My Twilight
by Minnie Claudia Cullen
Summary: Michelle is just an ordinary Danish girl. At least until she wins a singing contest and gets a free ticket to Forks Washington. But can she keep the promise she made to her heart? Can she never fall in love again? And can she stay away from Edward Cullen?
1. Preface

Preface

IF I HAD KNOWN MY FUTURE, I WOULD HAVE DONE EVERYTHING TO PREVENT IT.

My life's at an end, I should know. But still I wouldn't trade a thousand years for what I have experienced in one whole year.

When faith offers you love beyond imagination, wouldn't you grab it?

I knew I shouldn't have, since my heart was torn apart – ripped to pieces. Yet if the one you began to love, gratefully accepted your broken heart and soothingly cared for it, would you want to break their heart too?

No. I would never in a million years break his heart. And I thank him for taking care of my shredded heart. He couldn't heal it fully, he knows. But he sure made it glow and shine again.

I closed my eyes, waiting for my destiny. If destiny even exists...

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**AN**: Hey everyone and welcome to my story! _(If you find anny grammar mistakes please tell me! I'm not English, so it would be a great help if you'd tell me of any mistakes you find while you're reading)_  
So, basically this is a Twilight AU, since Bella never exists.

**DISCLAIMER:** _**No Copyright infringement intended. The story "Twilight" belongs to Stephenie Meyer along with her characters. (If I'd own the story I probably would have published "Midnight Sun" already... But oh well... a girl can dream. Right?? (;P))**_

_**The Characters I create in this story belong to me.**_

Well, here's a quick summary of the story (what I can tell you so far):

A girl named Michelle wins a singing competition and gets to spend her sophomore year in Forks High School before she has to sing in California. But will she keep the promise she made to herself? Can she keep herself from falling in love again? And can she keep herself from the gorgeous and tempting Edward Cullen?

Well to tell you a little more, this is "Twilight" from another girls eyes. She going to be different than Bella, act differently and make Edward go insane in another way than Bella. (:P) The story is going to follow "Twilight"(the book **and **the movie) but I'm going to improvise and put in things that weren't there before.

Well, please leave a rieview and tell me what you think of the Preface. Should I post chapter 1? :D  
**(Please rieview and I'll give you a cookie! :P)**


	2. Chapter 1: Introductions

_UPDATE 29 MAY 2010: I've corrected some mistakes in this chapter and changed a little bit. Hope you don't mind :)_

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**AN: Hey, sorry for the long wait! School has gone crazy here at the end of term :S (I hope it's not going to get worse after this summer 8S)  
Well, here's a nice long chappy for you to read :D (Hope that makes up for the long wait. It's 12 pages people! 12 pages! :O 4.798 words in Word. I feel proud of myself LOL :P)**

**R & R :D**

**(Remember: Reviews are appreciated! No matter how long or how short. A simple "Good job" works too :D)**

**OH! And if you find any mistakes please, don't hesitate to tell me. I'd love to correct them. :)**

**Enjoy!**

**xx**

**Minnie**

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1. Introductions

I OPENED MY EYES AND STARED AMAZED INTO MY ROOM. IT WASN'T TOTALLY LIT AND I KNEW THAT IT WAS EARLY MORNING. CAREFULLY I GRABBED MY ALARM-CLOCK, WHICH WAS LYING UNDER MY PILLOW, AND LOOKED AT IT.

Sigh.

It was half past five in the morning.

There were a little less than six hours until I was flying to the states.

Why was it me who had won that singing competition? I didn't want to go my sophomore year in an American High School, just because my music school had signed the choir up for a singing competition. I had sung a solo and of course there had been talent scouts watching.

Actually, I wanted to go to the states but then it should have been in my freshman year in High School. Now I was a sophomore student! How was I ever going to keep up with the others when I got back home? At least they let me get into a junior class. That would help me catch up faster when I came back, than if I had been in a sophomore class.

And there was another problem. I hadn't told anybody that I was going. Not even my best friends Larah, Tanja, Tina, Julie and M.J. (short for Mary-Jane). I hadn't dared.

Well, actually M.J. was attending another High School too but she would be joining the German class on the tour to Berlin.

Another thing I had looked forward too.

Why did I have to be the luckiest girl in the world? Why couldn't I just be a little unlucky sometimes?

But it would probably not help one bit.

I tried to go to sleep again but I couldn't. Instead I got up and grabbed my notebook. Because of the height of my bed, I have to get up and down with stuff, and it makes a lot of noise. But I got my notebook up safely and wrote a little more of my many stories.

I had somehow been born with a writing-talent. And right now I was writing a story about a girl who was half vampire and half human. I was somehow in a vampire-phase lately.

While I wrote I suddenly heard my father scream in the room next to mine. I guessed that he had one of his nightmares again.

Ever since my father had known that he had cancer, he had had nightmares. And lately he was on some kind of treatment were he wasn't allowed to eat anything. Only drink some juices. Because of that he could get a little crabby sometimes.

Then I heard my mom walking around and put my notebook back down on my desk. I did it as silently as I could but my mom surely heard me. She opened the door to my room just after I had crawled back to bed, and had put my blanket over my head.

"You already awake?" my mother asked in amazement.

"No!" I answered.

My mom laughed a little before she said, "You should get up and pack the last things."

"But mom! There are six hours until the flight!" I looked annoyed at her through the bars of my bed. They were there to protect me from falling down while I slept.

"Just get up," my mother said in a resigned tone. "I don't want more fights between you and your dad before you leave."

"Okay, okay! Just give me five more minutes!"

My mother closed the door and my head flew down on my pillow. Since I couldn't sleep, I could as well think a little about the future.

I sighed, again.

_One_ year in the states, away from my family. Wasn't that what I wanted? Just get a little away from my family? There had been too many confrontations between my father and me through the last year and it was good that I was going for a while. But then I would leave my little brother all alone with my father. I made a face at the thought. But my brother could probably visit me in one of his vacations. I would make sure of that. Except that where I was going to live in the United States, wasn't the sunniest place.

I had expected to live in New York or at least California or Florida. Instead I was going to live in a little town, named after a _utensil_, Forks in the state of Washington.

To be sure of where I was going I had done a little research on the internet. And I had found out that the city of Forks was one of the wettest and most clouded places in the world. My father had hoped that I would be getting more D-vitamin over there than at home so he got a little angry, when he found out about where I was going.

_"That can't be true! You'll have to be taking D-vitamin pills!"_ he had exclaimed. I had just shaken my head internally. If they could take that little sun over there, then I could too. I was already very pale and I wasn't that much out in the sun. It took me quite some time to get suntanned – which I didn't even really get – so I gave up on it.

My mother knocked on the door, "Get up Michelle!"

"Okay, okay! I'm coming!" I shouted.

I got up and grabbed one of my favorite T-shirts. It was red and had extraordinary sleeves. I would probably not really be using it in Forks but it was worth bringing for one of the rare sunny days. Or for when I should sing in California after my year in Forks.

Forks, was actually only a test to see if I could live in America, and if my English was good enough. Luckily I had been attending an English class the three last weeks of my summer vacation, so I was very well prepared. And my mom had forced me to speak English to her every day. My dad made me do the same with him; I only had to speak German too. It was the language I had chosen to take in Forks High School. My father didn't want me to forget anything, since I was half Austrian.

The schedules in the American High Schools were the strangest. You attended the same classes' everyday, which would be tough for someone like me. But if I worked hard, I was sure that I would make it.

I slid into my sapphire-blue jeans and went into the kitchen to get some breakfast.

"Wow you're up!" my mother exclaimed and I stubbornly stuck out my tongue.

"Mom! Michelle is sticking out her tongue!" my now 14 year old little brother said.

"Nick, don't talk like that! You sound like such a baby!" I had always called him by his middle name; I couldn't make myself call him Alexander. It was quite strange but I had been calling him Nick for as long as I could remember.

He ran out of the kitchen and into his room, as if he hadn't heard me.

"Alexander you forgot your breakfast!" my mother shouted after him. He came back in and gave her a hug.

"Don't yell! It leaves a bad atmosphere. Why is no one thinking of my condition?" my father said roughly when he entered the kitchen.

I soundlessly sighed. So it would be one of _those_ days...

* * *

I glanced one last time at my room. It was so clean that I couldn't believe I had lived here. Most of my books were in one of my trunks with some of my scanty winter clothes. However, I had insisted on bringing some of my summer clothes too. You never knew when the sun would be shining.

Some of my teddies were in one of my trunks too. I couldn't live without them. One of them was even as old as me.

I had packed my favorite movies and CD's and I was bringing three pairs of shoes. And I was of course bringing my notebook. I couldn't bring my stationary computer, my father was afraid of it breaking in my trunk.

When I glanced one last time at my room, I sighed.

"Goodbye room. See you in a year," I said tenderly. Suddenly I got tears in my eyes and started blinking wildly. I didn't want to cry.

Then my mother opened the door. "The taxi is there. We're driving now."

"I'm coming," I said and went out of my room. I would miss it.

* * *

My family and I stood at the airport, and my trunks were already on the plane. It would be taking off in an hour, so I had a lot of time saying goodbye to them.

We walked around looking at the stores, and there wasn't really anything else we could do. After 20 minutes we all got an ice-cream.

_Your last ice-cream in one year, _I thought._ Enjoy it._

My brother had insisted on getting a soda too, but there my father had stepped in.

"No you're not getting one! Soda and candy are not natural for the body! No animal in the world eats sugar..." he spoke for about ten minutes. Of course he wasn't eating an ice-cream.

When the time finally approached for me to get on the plane, my mother's eyes got teary.

"Do be careful," she said her voice full of tears. "Take care of yourself." She gave me a hug and a kiss on the cheek.

"See you Michelle," my brother said, and hugged me.

"We're going to miss you," my father said, and I gave them all another hug.

I was about to cry myself, when I got on board the plane – but mostly because of my mother's weeping. When I stood by the gate, about to get on the plane, I turned around and said, "Goodbye. Going to miss you." I waved at them and tried to concentrate on remembering how they looked.

My mother cried and waved, her long, straight dark brown hair was in a ponytail. My own hair was beginning to look more and more like hers.

My father was close to crying, his gray hair had gotten long lately. And my baby brother just waved – he probably just looked forward to one of his vacations were he could visit me – his hair had the same color as my mothers, dark brown.

I turned around and smiled a little. This year was going to be interesting (And I had _no idea_ how interesting it really would be_). _Then I went through the gate and into the plane.

* * *

The flight to Seattle took ten hours. It was the longest I had ever been sitting in a plane, and it was almost unbearable. The food was okay, but not the best.

The journey itself to Forks took 12 hours, so it would be about 02:40 AM in Denmark while it in Forks would be about 11:40 AM.

It would take some time to get used to the new time zone, but I had been awake all night before in Denmark. Therefore I had brought a good book to read on the plane. I wouldn't want to fall asleep.

When I finally landed in Seattle I saw the first rain. I was actually used to rain, but I wasn't prepared for rain almost all the time. Another thing I had to get used to.

My luggage got carried into a smaller plane, where there were only sitting about 20 people. I only had a one hour flight left to Port Angeles – where the family I would be living with waited – before a one hour drive to Forks.

I felt extremely exhausted, but I had promised myself to stay awake until 08:00 PM over here. I had a whole week to get used to the time zone before I started school, but it was good to start getting used to it as early as possible.

_One week late for school_, I thought sarcastically, while I made a face.

Forks High Schools first day of school was today and I had not been able to travel earlier, therefore I had gotten permission to start school one week later.

_How lucky_, the sarcastic voice in my head continued.

I shook the thoughts away and returned to reading my book, but my eyes wouldn't stop closing. I gave up on trying to read; there were 10 minutes until the plane landed anyway.

While I tried to keep myself awake I looked out the window of the plane. It wasn't raining but the only thing I could see were clouds, fog and a green landscape. It was very pretty and I hadn't been expecting that. I had always thought that plants needed a lot of sunshine, but I had apparently been wrong.

Finally the plane started diving a little and I started smiling. I already knew the daughter of my hosting family. Her name was Nicole Evans and she had been in Denmark for three months before she went back to the states. Her family had then moved to Forks to start a new life. And while she was in Denmark she went to my High School.

I smiled wider at the thought. To begin with the blondes in my class had tried getting Nicole over on their side, but she had stuck with me – mostly because her personality didn't look like the one of a blonde, and because she mostly wanted to stick to me to learn something. I respected that about her. She would rather learn and get educated than party.

The plane landed and I started getting nervous. I knew that Nicole had been talking about my arrival at school – and the town had probably been gossiping too – so I would probably be the center of attention. A little uncomfortable, but I hoped it would stop just a little. I didn't want to be center of attention all the time.

I could imagine it, boys coming over to me to ask about all sorts of things. I shook my head internally. I had said my goodbyes to boys and love forever.

_Not all love_, a voice in my head corrected me.

Okay, I hadn't given up love in movies and books. But real love, the love for boys, was definitive out of the picture.

I got off the plane and saw a sign with the words: '_Michelle Fairytale'_. I blushed a little, thinking about that people I didn't know could see my name.

I walked towards the people standing with the sign.

"Michelle?" a little red-haired lady with pigtails looked at me with interest.

"Um...yeah that's me..." I answered her.

"Oh my, you're even prettier than on pictures!" she looked like she had just won the lottery or something.

Next to the red-haired lady stood a tall and skinny blonde man. He looked like he was in his mid-thirties or under. It actually looked quite funny, since I knew that Nicole looked like her father but had her mother's eyes and hair. But I hadn't expected it to be so clear on her parent's faces.

I looked for Nicole too but she wasn't standing with her parents. It was quite odd, since she had extra excused herself from class to come pick me up at the airport.

"So you're Michelle?" Mr. Evans asked me.

"Err yeah..." I nervously put my hair back my right ear.

"No need to be shy. You're just so pretty! I can see why you won that competition," Mrs. Evans said. "My name is Judith by the way." We shook hands.

"And my name is Erik. But I'm sure Nicole's already told you that." We shook hands too.

Yes, I knew his name was Erik. His daughter Nicole had told me everything about her family when she had been in Denmark. We had been writing letters and e-mails to each other after that, and when she found out that I had 'won' a year in Forks, Washington, she had almost gone berserk in her next letter. I _had_ to be living with her family. Then she could show me around at school and such, just like I had done with her when she had been in Denmark.

I was grateful for the fact that I at least knew _one_ person at the tiny High School I would attend.

"Where is Nicole actually?" I asked, forcing myself to talk. I had to be polite.

"Oh, she's here. But she has a surprise for you," Judith answered, her eyes sparkling.

"And she's, by the way, terrified of planes," Erik added in a serious yet funny voice. They were probably trying to make me forget my shyness.

_How sweet of them actually,_ I couldn't help myself from thinking. And I couldn't help myself from laughing a bit too.

Nicole _was_ actually terrified of planes, but of course I had forgotten that.

"Right, I had totally forgotten. But I'm looking forward to her surprise," I said. And I was actually a little excited about what Nicole was planning for me.

I loved gifts, but not too many at a time. I didn't have that big a wish-list after all.

Erik then asked me, "Should we get your bags?"

"Um sure," I said.

He then walked with me to the plane. We got my trunks and drove them back to Judith.

"I guess you brought a little of everything, right?" he asked me while we were walking towards his car.

"Yeah… I'm going to be here for some time anyway," my voice wasn't very loud, but just high enough for him to hear.

"Then it's good that we have extra space for luggage," Precisely after that Nicole suddenly got out of a sapphire blue Citroen 2CV6. Normally I didn't speak "Car and Driver" but Nicole had specifically told me that she owned such a vehicle.

"You probably thought I was going to ditch you, didn't ya?" she said with a teasing smile. I had probably looked surprised to her.

"Something like that." I was smiling too.

"You very tired?" she asked me while she almost ran towards me to give me a hug. I couldn't help but smile at her personality. I had missed it.

"I'm fine as always," I answered her. "And I'm not that tired at a–" I suddenly yawned before I could continue.

Nicole laughed at my attempted lie but then said, with a sudden glimpse in her eyes, "Can you stay awake for a little longer?"

"Sure?" I hoped she heard that I was confused.

When she didn't say anything further I headed for what I believed to be Erik's dark green Alfa Romeo, when she suddenly grabbed my wrist.

"Where do you think you're going?" she asked me.

"Err… I'm getting into the car. We're going home to you," I insecurely answered her. She had some kind of plan, but I wasn't sure of what it was.

"You're heading for the wrong car, you know. We're not going home to me, _quite_ yet," she smiled teasingly.

_Oh no!_

"Nicole, be reasonable!" I pleaded. I knew exactly what she was up to.

"Nope! You are going to see the school. You can't go around in my house all day,"

But then Judith interrupted, "Nicole, be nice. It's _our_ house not yours." She wasn't being harsh, just informative.

I tried to hide a smile, but Nicole must have seen it because she scowled at me.

We stood like that for some time until Nicole again said something, "Come on! We haven't got all day! Lunch begins at a quarter to one!" and then she dragged me into her Citroen.

"See you later Michelle," both Judith and Erik said to me. If they continued being this nice I could easily get used to living in Forks – if it wasn't for the fact that it rained almost constantly. I was happy that it wasn't raining today. Actually, I didn't have anything against the rain – I even loved it when it only drizzled or didn't make me soaking wet in seconds.

Nicole hurried to the driver's seat and started the engine.

"Nicole, please. You don't need to do this," I pleaded.

"Yes I do. You simply have to see the school before you go to sleep," she had a glimpse in the eye. I was going to see something important, I was sure.

I sighed. "Okay, you win. I was planning on going to bed at eight tonight anyway," I said resigned.

"Eight!" her eyes got wide. I looked harshly at her. "Okay! You've been flying for 12 hours," I still looked harshly at her. "And I'm not going to disturb your beauty sleep," she teased. "You'll be staying in the guest room."

"Thank you."

After that we drove in silence for a while. Nicole kept her eyes on the road ahead of us, and I thought about the past. It was quite funny thinking about how quickly Nicole and I had become friends. When you thought of how it all began. I had actually got to know her on a fan site for "Harry Potter". We had been writing for a while, when she said that she was going to be an exchange student in Denmark. And, miraculously, she was going to attend my school.

_What are the odds for something like that?_

Nicole had almost gone into chock when she found out that she was going to my school. She had insisted upon me showing her around and letting her know everything there was to know. I had to assure her at least 30 times that there wasn't really much to show. When she finally arrived I had learned that she stayed at Tina's and was attending my class. And on her first day of school she had almost squeezed me in a hug.

I had been a freshman in High School for half a year back then. Nicole was only staying for about three months and she had had a great time with Larah, Tanja, Tina and me. Nicole wasn't really hanging that much out with M.J, since she was attending the science class, while where in the linguistic class.

And after Nicole returned home, I'm sure she told everyone she knew about her little "trip" to Denmark. When she was excited she couldn't stop talking. That well I knew her.

And now, I was sitting in a car in Forks, Washington waiting for humiliation. I didn't want to be looked at before I _actually_ started in a week.

I felt how my eyes began to close and I almost fell asleep a couple of times. But Nicole always managed to pinch me in the arm when I did. She knew how soundly I could sleep, after a sleepover at my place in Denmark. So, I decided to look out the window, instead of having her pinch me until my arm was bruised. It was actually quite pretty outside. The whole place was green. I loved the color green and it fit well in this place. But a little sunshine would have done this place good. It was almost like looking out the window of the plane. Only it looked greener on the ground than from the sky.

I turned to look straight ahead and saw a sign with the words _Forks High School_. This was the place I during the year was going to attend. _How nice_.

"How big is the school actually?" I asked Nicole as I saw the sign.

"Wait and see," she said with a glimpse in her eye.

"Nicole, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean I'm not actually attending until next week. And it's probably lunch break right now," I was desperately trying to talk her out of it. I knew that lunch didn't start until 12:45 PM but I didn't want to interrupt any classes.

"Lunch isn't until a quarter to one and I'm excused from this lesson too. We don't need to disturb anyone," she said as if she had read my mind. And normally my thoughts weren't written all over my face, unless I really wanted people to know my thoughts. Which I rarely wanted anyone to.

I didn't tell just anybody what I thought or felt. Actually I told almost no one about my deepest thoughts and feelings. I never felt that I was on the same level with anyone. Not even my closest friends. I somehow felt like my mind was older than theirs. Like it was the one of a 35 year-old, while my body looked like it was the one of a sixteen year-old.

"I simply meant that we wouldn't be disturbing anyone if we left now. Walking in the hallways can disturb lessons too," I said after an awkward silence. I had been lost in my thoughts.

"I know how you are Michelle. You have such a noble heart. It makes you don't want to interrupt people or be late for class," I was glad she had remembered that side of me.

She parked the car and we got out.

I looked at the buildings in astonishment, when I opened the door of the car. It didn't look like a school at all; closer to a bunch of old buildings actually.

"You never seen a school before?" Nicole asked me.

"Sure I have. But it doesn't even look like a school," I objected.

"I know. But you haven't seen anything yet."

"What are you actually going to show me?" I asked her, just to be prepared.

"Probably the cafeteria and afterwards some of the hallways and the gym... I think that's it."

_Oh no. Not the gym! People are going to see me!_

I made sure to hide my fear of getting caught and seen. I had never in my life been "the new girl" so I was really nervous. But Nicole knew me too well. She was one of those who got a rare glimpse of my soul.

"There's no reason to panic. We're just going to spy a little," she winked at me.

"Okay. And that's it! And you'll promise to drive me home after that," I firmly said.

"But then you'll not be able to experience lunch!" Nicole was playing upset.

My eyes widened. Normally I would have laughed at her lacking acting abilities but I knew she was serious about lunch.

I swallowed. People would notice me and ask questions – which would probably make me feel uncomfortable. I normally didn't hate attention I just hated being center of attention without a reason – attention towards me had to be because of a reason I liked.

"Get a hold of yourself Michelle! It's not that bad," Nicole strictly said and pulled me with her.

At first we looked at the cafeteria where some students were sitting, doing homework or ditching class. Or at least that's what Nicole told me. After that we walked in the hallways, and she showed me some of the empty classes that we passed. As there were fifteen minutes left until lunch break, Nicole was suddenly insisting on that we hurried to the gym. She didn't look like herself at all – she was almost over-exited.

_Strange_, was my only thought.

"Um, are we going to see something extra special or what? Since you're almost running away from me?" I asked her bewildered.

She lowered her pace and mumbled something like, "Of course she can't know yet."

What was it that I didn't know?

Nicole was being very cryptic. It was almost like she was someone else in that moment.

We reached the gym and Nicole quickly walked towards a bench and stood on it so that she could look inside the windows.

"Yes!" she exclaimed.

"What is it?" I asked her. She was acting like some kind of mad fan stalking a movie star.

"Take a look yourself," she said to me, without moving her head from the window.

"No I won't. It's called spying and I'm not into that," the irony was clear in my voice. I was almost dying to find out what Nicole found so damn interesting that it was worth stalking.

"Of course not," she turned her head towards me, closed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at me.

I just laughed, stood up on a bench and looked in the window. At first I couldn't really see anything else but people running around inside. When they all stopped to listen to the teacher, I couldn't see anything special either.

"What was so fascinating? I can't see anything," I looked a moment at Nicole.

"You just have to look," was her only answer.

When I looked in the window again, I got myself quite a shock.

Someone was staring back at me!

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**AN: Sorry for the cliffy! (Reviews might make the next chapter update itself faster "hint hint" LOL :P)  
Well, hope you like it so far :D Please tell me what you think :)**

**(Reviews are the sunshine for us writers! YOU inspire us to write more :D Yes, I mean every single one of you out there :D)**

**xx**

**Minnie :D**


	3. Chapter 2: Surprises

**Disclaimer:**Nope, I still don't own "Twilight". Or the song used in this chapter. If I did, I'd probably be a rich as Richie Rich right now :P (Hope I spelled his name right...)

**AN: **Sorry for the delayed update! I've been so busy writing the story that I haven't had time to post it! (BTW There's a competition for you in this chappie! :P The reviewer who can guess the title and artist of the song I use in this chapter, gets a one-shot with a vampire, or storyline of their choice! :D

And thanks to _**vampirecullen**__, __**3**_and _**Dream Land Lover 223**_ for reviewing!  
I'm going to answer reviews for each chapter (If they are anonymous) so here they are:

_**3**__**:**_Thanks for pointing out the mistake. I meant _utensil_ not _spiseredskab_. I'm not English so I write this in Danish and then translate. That word must've slipped. But thanks again for pointing it out! :D

_**vampirecullen**_**: **Uhh, I like your name :D Thanks for reviewing; I'm glad you like my story. Hope this chappy makes up for the puppy dog eyes you've been given me (I simply can't resist those eyes :P)

_So here's the chapter! Enjoy!_

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2. Surprises

I ALMOST FELL DOWN THE BENCH BECAUSE OF THE SHOCK I GOT. I LOOKED THROUGH THE WINDOW AGAIN AND I WAS STILL BEING STARED AT, ONLY THIS TIME THE PERSON LOOKED LIKE HE WAS TRYING NOT TO SMILE.

Me, almost falling down must have looked funny.

The person who starred at me was the most gorgeous I had ever seen. He had untidy bronze-colored hair and he had perfectly angular features with high cheekbones, a strong jaw line, a straight nose and full lips. He was also extremely tall, at least 6 feet or more, since he was taller than most of the others in the gym. Plus, his skin was extremely pale.

And, because he was still looking at me, I blushed and looked down.

"Is he looking at _you_?" Nicole asked me.

I couldn't help myself from looking through the window again. He was still starring at me but he now had some kind of curiosity in his eyes. I looked down again, blushing even more. "Um... I... Err..." I just answered. His stare made me extremely nervous. I took a deep breath, but lost my balance and fell down the bench. Luckily I landed on my feet before my knees trembled and I landed on my butt.

Nicole started to laugh very loudly. My little "stunt" had probably looked funny. I groaned. "I – think – he – did!" she said, with intervals – she didn't have enough air to say it all at once.

My eyes moved to the ground, and I felt how my cheeks were still warm from blushing. I didn't make any effort of getting up again.

"Don't worry. That's how everyone reacts around him," Nicole soothingly said. "But no one's been as funny as you!" she was laughing again.

"Nicole, don't! I was caught off guard, okay?"

"Sure you were." She had a certain glimpse in her eyes.

Groan. Sometimes Nicole was a little too positive and enthusiastic. Even more than I could be. "Can't we just head for lunch now? Or can I at least go..." I wasn't sure about the word, "...home?" I decided to use.

"Cafeteria. Now!" she said and pulled me with her.

I walked with her, thinking about what had just happened. How in the world could he make me react that way? Well, he had certainly taken me by surprise when he stared back, but what bugged me was that I never reacted that way when anybody ever stared at me. Especially not boys.

Who _was_ this guy?

I was so consumed by my thoughts that Nicole had to wave her hand in front of my head to get me back to reality.

"Earth to Michelle! You there?" she asked me.

"Yeah. I was just wondering..."

"He makes everyone act like that you know."

I thought about it again. Who was he to make me trip like that? I wasn't usually clumsy.

"His name is Edward Cullen if you have to know," Nicole said. "Every girl here would _die_ to get to be with him," she sighed. "But he doesn't date."

I noticed that she looked sad, which somehow made me smile. This Edward had an admirer in Nicole too.

"What are you laughing at? You like him too now!" Nicole answered back.

I blushed and mumbled, "I... um... I... don't date either..." My eyes moved to the ground. I hated talking about my deepest feelings and thoughts – it was embarrassing for me.

"What? Why would you do that?" Nicole's voice rose an octave but then she added, "My God! How could I forget? You're dating Chr––"

"We broke up," I interrupted her, before she could mention his name. I was avoiding the painful mental pictures I would remember. All I wanted was to forget the past and move on with my life. And that meant I had to get along without love. I had decided this after the breakup with my last boyfriend – my first boyfriend. I would never fall in love again.

I _had_ been in love before him, but it had almost torn me apart and almost let me into depression. My first boyfriend was actually the first one; I had ever had a relationship with. One where I had been loved back. But after our breakup, I had decided never to let my heart feel any kind of pain again. I knew it couldn't take any more of it. One more time, and I would surely die of a broken heart.

"What? And you didn't tell me!" she looked as if she was hurt. Exactly _that_ was why I hated keeping my thoughts to myself. But I couldn't help feeling embarrassed to talk about them either.

I sighed. "Have you ever experienced your heart breaking – time after time – until it couldn't take it anymore and screamed _'stop'_?" Even to myself I sounded depressed.

This was one of the rare times my soul would come to the surface. And it hurt to talk about my feelings. Anyone in my place would say the same, if their heart had been broken at least a hundred times.

_Actually only about twenty times or so_, a sarcastic voice in my head corrected me. Okay, I knew I had exaggerated a bit, but it still hurt to think about how broken my heart really was. It almost felt like it had been broken a hundred times...

Nicole looked soothingly at me. "You know that's what friends are for. They listen," she gave me a hug and stroked my arm.

We stood like that a minute, until I felt how the rain began to drizzle.

"Wasn't I supposed to see the cafeteria?" I wanted her to forget about this. I hated looking vulnerable and weak. But that was exactly how my mind was. Pathetically vulnerable and weak.

"Sure thing. I was just thinking about what you said about your broken heart."

I wanted to groan. Why couldn't we just have a normal conversation about school or homework? Feelings weren't my favorite subject – especially my own feelings.

Nicole continued, since I didn't answer her, "You know I've broken my heart a few times too. I just want to help since I don't know what you've been through," she looked at me seriously. "And if you've decided to make love a taboo, I'm going to do everything I can to help you."

I couldn't help but to look surprised. This was exactly what I _hadn't_ expected to come from her, but from my friend Larah back in Denmark. But Nicole was one of my closest friends – even though we had only "really" known each other for about six months. She accepted me as I was, only complaining when she needed to. That's what made her a _real_ friend.

My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by a loudly ringing bell. I laughed.

"What's so funny?" Nicole looked at me. She looked confused by my sudden cheerful mood.

"I had almost forgotten how a school bell sounded," I told her.

She laughed. "Your school didn't have a bell at all, you know."

"It had before I went to High School," I smiled.

"Okay," she answered. "But we really should be heading for lunch."

When we got inside the cafeteria, I saw that it was not much different from my cafeteria in Denmark. It was just a room full of hungry teenagers.

Nicole started waving at somebody and then she dragged me towards a big table, where a lot more students were sitting than on other tables. "Hey everybody! This is Michelle. She's actually supposed to start next week, but I thought that I just wanted to introduce her." Nicole was much more extroverted than me – or at least I thought so – and introduced me with a smile.

Everyone at the table turned their heads toward me and said hi. I just waved at them. My voice had suddenly gone missing.

As we sat down, Nicole started introducing some of the closest sitting persons. She pointed towards a blonde guy, with a baby like face and said, "This is Mike. I have English with him, but that's not really important." Mike waved at me and I shyly managed to say, "Hi."

"And this is Jessica. We have Spanish together." Nicole pointed at a girl with wild dark curls. She didn't seem very tall. Jessica just smiled at me, before she returned to a conversation Nicole had interrupted.

Nicole then pointed at a shy-looking girl, whose hair was dark too. "This is Angela. We have Algebra together."

I smiled at Angela. "That's actually my name too," I told her.

"Really?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"Yeah. I'm the female version of Michael Angelo." I felt how I began feeling more and more confident – but only a little bit.

Angela laughed and I did too. I was could feel that I was definitely going to like her.

Nicole continued to introduce. "And this is Eric. I have English with him too," she said and pointed at a boy with oil-black hair and skin problems.

"Hi," I just said.

Nicole introduced several other people, but I forgot their names as soon as she said them. After her introducing, conversation started forming around the table. I didn't want to interrupt anything, so I looked around in the cafeteria instead.

_Luckily no one has bothered to ask me a million questions_, I thought. _Yet_, another voice told me. I was still glancing around in the cafeteria when Nicole suddenly interrupted me.

"That wasn't that bad, was it?" she smiled.

"Surprisingly not," I teased and suddenly caught a glimpse of someone's bronze-colored hair. Nicole noticed this.

"So, I see you've noticed _them,_" she playfully said.

"T–them?" There wasn't just Edward? I couldn't help but to be shocked. How could there be more than one perfect looking person?

And as I saw them all, I had to secretly pinch myself in the arm a couple of times to prove that I was not sleeping. At a table in the other end of the cafeteria, five absolutely perfect figures were sitting. One of them was Edward Cullen from the gym.

They were all extremely pale – even paler than me who couldn't get suntanned – and almost looked the same. But still they looked so different. The girls were total opposites. The blonde one was tall and mostly looked like a model from some kind of magazine. The other had short black hair which stood out to all sides. She was very small – probably a bit smaller than my 5.3 feet – and she was almost pixie-like. The boys didn't look like each other either. One was big and muscular with dark curly hair. He looked old enough to go to College. Another was tall and muscular too, but not as much as the one with curly hair. He had honey blonde hair and too looked like he didn't belong in High School either. The third boy, Edward, didn't look as old as the other two. He was more boyish and less muscular – and absolutely gorgeous.

None of them looked at anything; they just starred off into space.

"They're the Cullen and Hale family," Nicole said, bringing me back to reality.

"Which ones are the Cullens?" I asked curiously. I knew Edward was a Cullen, but I wanted to know the names of his siblings.

Suddenly Edward glanced at me. At first it had seemed like he just had heard his name spoken – and I wondered how he could have heard his name from such a distance – but when he saw me starring at him, he looked curious. I couldn't stop myself from blushing and immediately looked down.

"The big muscular one is Emmet Cullen and the blonde girl next to him is Rosalie Hale," Nicole started to explain. "The blonde boy is Jasper Hale – Rosalie's twin brother – and the little girl with black hair is Alice Cullen," she said. "And I guess you already know who the last one is," she smugly smiled. "_Edward_ Cullen." her voice sounded like a cats purr.

"Nicole!" I blushed because of the way she said his name.

Jessica suddenly interrupted, "Nicole's right. He's a hunk," she smiled and her eyes suddenly looked as if she was deep in thought. "But they're all together. As in _together _together_._ Emmet and Rosalie and Jasper and Alice. And they _live_ together." Her voice revealed some kind of dislike. But it _was_ a little strange that they all lived together and were together at the same time. This would have been the cause of gossip too at my old school.

I looked over at their table again. Edward still looked towards me with interest. I looked away, blushing again. _You promised_, a voice in my head said. _No more boys! _But I couldn't stop myself from glancing at least onceat _him_ again.

"They don't really look alike," I suddenly said, moving my gaze towards my own table. I felt some kind of urge to know more about them, it was a little creepy. But they were mysterious – which was enough itself to interest me – and it was enough to get me curious. Especially because Edward was still starring at me.

_You're an idiot_, I told myself. I really didn't need to be so curious about him.

"No. They're not even related. They're all foster children of Dr. Cullen and his wife," Nicole answered.

"It's probably because she can't even have children herself," Jessica said, her voice full of contempt. She probably didn't like the idea of them dating and living in the same house. I didn't see the problem in that. As long as they weren't related, it didn't bother me.

"They look a little too old to be foster children," I noted, ignoring Jessica's harsh comment.

"Well, they are now," Nicole answered. "But they've been with Doctor Cullen since they were kids." she suddenly looked eager bout something. "And maybe Dr. Cullen will adopt me one day. Then I might get a boyfriend," her voice was teasing. She probably hoped to get with Edward. I laughed.

"But they _live_ together!" Jessica protested.

Nicole started arguing with her and I didn't want to interrupt them, so I looked towards the Cullen's and Hale's again. I suddenly noticed that their names weren't actually really popular anymore. The last time I'd heard the name Edward, was when I read _"Sense and Sensibility"_ a week ago. Edward still looked towards my table, but his stare was more intense. As if he was concentrating hard on something.

"What about Edward? Isn't he with somebody?" I already knew that he didn't date, but I somehow wanted to know the details. In that moment I hated myself for being extremely curious – and that I sometimes didn't think before I said something.

Nicole and Jessica stopped arguing and both looked at me. Suddenly Jessica laughed. "No. But every girl in school who's not dating would _wish_ they were with him," she said, interest clear in her voice. "But he's gorgeous right?"

I saw Edward turning his head away. It was as if he was laughing about something. His siblings were still staring into nowhere.

"Yes, you're right," I said with an indifferent voice, but my gaze was again resting on the Cullen's and Hale's. Edward looked in my direction again, but this time with a very strange look in his eyes.

And then Jessica said something that brought my gaze back to my own table. "Yes! He's an absolute hunk!" she started. "But don't waste your time on him. He doesn't even date." even though her words were kindly meant I could see in her eyes that she wanted him all to herself.

_He's all yours_. I had already said my goodbyes to boys and love, but that was none of her business. _And I already know that he doesn't date, thank you very much._ I wanted to sigh. "I wasn't planning to anyway," I friendly told her. She looked pleased by the thought and I decided to look one last time at a certain table.

Edward was still glancing in this direction, but this time I let his eyes meet mine. It was as if he tried to find out about something. He looked so concentrated! _If only one could read minds!_ I thought, and saw a smile forming on Edward's lips. But as fast as his smile had come it vanished, and I focused on my own table again.

Nicole looked at her wrist watch and exclaimed, "God! The hour's almost over! Michelle we should get going if we're ever going to get time to unpack your trunk." She deliberately didn't say _trunks_, which I appreciated. I said my goodbyes and got out of my seat. But Nicole clearly had other plans. "I didn't say that we were ready to leave," her voice was sly. My eyes widened.

"Nicole I'm begging you. No!" I started to blush tomato red at the thought of what she wanted me to do. And I was not going to let her push me to do it.

"Come on please! Just one little number?" she pleaded and made her doggy-eyes.

"Nicole!" I felt how my face turned even hotter and I started shaking. A conflict was building up inside of me. Every time someone asked me to sing I always objected, but secretly I really wanted to. That was why I started shaking.

"Come on! Just one little song?" the rest of the table started joining in pleading.

_Oh God! When will this nightmare end?_

I took a deep breath and started singing the song I knew I could sing the best:

"_Isn't she lovely?_

_Isn't she wonderful?_

_Isn't she precious?_

_Less than one minute old_

_I never thought through love we'd be_

_Making one as lovely as she_

_But isn't she lovely made from love_

"_Isn't she pretty?_

_Truly the angel's best_

_Boy I'm so happy_

_We have been heaven blessed_

_I can't believe what God has done_

_Through us he's given life to one_

_But isn't she lovely made from love_

"_Isn't she lovely?_

_Life and love are the same_

_Life is Aïcha_

_The meaning of her name_

_Londie, it could have not been done_

_Without you who conceived the one_

_That's so very lovely made from love."_

When I finished, the table brook into applause, and I blushed even more. I could feel how I was still shaking and my mouth was dry. A really bad combination. I suddenly noticed that more and more people in the cafeteria started looking at me and the table I had been sitting at. They probably wanted to know what had happened. I blushed even more, and my gaze couldn't stop following my thoughts. What were the five extraordinary beautiful people thinking?

I saw that they all looked at me – more or less amazed – before they looked away again. Everyone except two of them. The black haired girl looked friendly and amazed at me, but it was nothing against how her brother Edward Cullen was starring. He looked like one who had just heard an angel sing.

I looked away, smiling.

_Angel's my middle name_ was my last thought before Nicole started dragging me out of the cafeteria and out into her car.

* * *

**Well, what do you think? Was it good? Bad? Were there any mistakes that you noticed?**

**Remember: **_**"Reviews are my sunshine, my only sunshine. They make me happy when skies are grey..." **_**(And the sky has litterally has been like that here in Denmark for the last couple of days. I've been waiting **_**soo**_** much for that thunderstorm to come! And yesterday it came :D Yay! The Cullen's played baseball! XP) **

**xx**  
**Minnie :D**


	4. Chapter 3: The New Girl

**AN:** Hey everyone! I'm so terribly sorry for the enormously long wait, but I've had absolutely NO acces to the internet for God-knows-how-long. My brother got grounded (meaning no internet for me too, since it's wireless) and the internet at the local library isn't working right either... -_-' (isn't that just typical?) After that I went on vacation to Austria, where I had no acces to the internet either (that REALLY sucked!) so as you see, I would have loved to update sooner but I couldn't...

BUT! I have written tremmemdously many pages just for you guys, so here are some chapters all the way to 13. :D Hope that makes up for the long wait.  
The next chappie will probably be up in a week or two. I still have to write, translate and correct. (You have no idea how much work it takes to write one chapter ;P) **and** I'm writing a fic for Harry Potter too, so you have something else to look forward to in the future :)

Enjoy the next ten chapters!

Minnie :D

* * *

**3. The New Girl**

Through the week I quickly got used to the time difference. To begin with it was very strange to wake up in the middle of the night and want to eat breakfast. But it passed after some days.

The house where the Evans lived was situated just outside Forks. Their backyard consisted of a forest, a river and – about half a mile away – a mountain. Everything was really pretty.

_And it would probably be even prettier with a little sunshine_, a part of me thought. _Oh, just shut up!_ another part thought.

In some strange way, I already longed for the sun. I hadn't really anything against the rain – except if I got soaking wet – but it was like living in a cave. Or under constant winter. In Denmark it was dark most of the winter and sunny most of the summer. And I had gotten used to sunshine lately because I had been three weeks in Austria (and while I was there I had attended an English class. My dad had some really cool connections) so that was probably why I had difficulties with accepting the clouds just yet. It was still summer in my brain.

Inside of the house there were three floors. On the first floor there was a kitchen, a dining room, a living room and a small toilet. It was most comfortable sitting down there in the evening, because it was so warm. Mr. Evans was still trying to figure out why this was the case. On the second floor were Mr. and Mrs. Evans bedroom, two guest rooms, two offices – in one – and a library. They hadn't had any space for all their books, so they had made the room into 'The Paradise of Books' as Nicole liked to call it. There was a big bathroom too on the floor, but it was specially made for Mr. and Mrs. Evans.

On the third, and last, floor there was Nicole's room and a third guest room. They were lying directly opposite of each other, just like in a hotel.

From Nicole's room you could look into the backyard, while my room pointed towards the front section of the house. I could always look out the window and see Nicole's Citroen, Eric's Alfa Romeo and Judith's Chevy (Chevrolet) truck. She worked as an artist for a big company and had to transport many pictures and portraits.

And, just a little to the right of my window, an apple tree was standing.

_How romantic_, my first thought had been. _What if somebody climbed it?... _But I had stopped the thought at that. _No boys Michelle. No boys!_

My room here was much bigger than the one I had in Denmark. I had a higher bed back there though, but this one was much wider. The bed stood in the right corner of the room, just beside the window. And I was happy that the wall wasn't oblique, or I would have hit my head every morning. In the left corner, also by the window, a desk stood with a light blue desk lamp. Nicole had specially bought it for me, as a welcoming gift. She knew how much I loved blue. Left of my bed there was standing a little green bed table, with a little red lamp and a blue alarm-clock.

"Then your favorite colors are in harmony while you sleep," Nicole had told me. It had been the welcoming gift from the whole family.

In the other end of the room, left to the door, there stood a closet. Or more correctly, it was build inside the wall, just like my closet in Denmark. Only there was much more space in this one. I could actually walk five steps into it! All of my clothes fit perfectly into it and all my shoes too and there were even room for more.

To the right of the door a bookshelf made of oak was standing. There I had put my books, movies, CD's and some of my teddies. My favorite ones were lying on my bed. In the middle of the shelf an old CD-player was standing. It was one of the many antique players Nicole's father owned. By the opposite wall of the bed, a flat screen was hanging a little above the ground. Under it a DVD- and VHS-player was laying. Other artifacts of Mr. Evans. But he trusted me to be wise enough not to break anything.

On the desk, I put my notebook on the left and a teddy on the right side of it.

After unpacking some of my things, Nicole had shown me her bathroom. It was very well hidden, since it had been a secret chamber once in the 1800's. And if there hadn't been a doorknob, I would have thought it was just a part of the wall.

The bathroom itself was of a kind I had never seen before. Nicole's favorite color was blue, so it made out a lot of the room. The colors, though, were light and it looked absolutely fantastic.

"How in the world did you made it look like this?" I asked her, dazed.

"We could afford some craftsmen who owed us a few favors," she answered.

I was still amazed by how magnificent it looked. The right part of the room was a wavy mirror, except for the cupboards underneath, which were probably for towels. A little in front of the door, just before the mirror started, an open cupboard was hanging. I noticed that Nicole's bathroom stuff was in there.

We walked to the other end where another cupboard was hanging just a little after the mirror stopped.

"And this is your part," she said, pointing at the empty cupboard.

In the left part of the bathroom there were both a shower and a bathtub, and I appreciated that. I hated to take a shower in a bathtub if I was running late. And just behind the door, there was a toilet with a blue board decorated with fish. I smiled at it. Nicole loved blue; she was almost fanatical about the color. Most of her clothes were blue too.

The night before my "first" day of school, Nicole came into my room. We hadn't really talked all week because I had been sleeping and unpacking – but I had mostly been sleeping.

"What are you writing?" she had curiously asked me. I had finally gotten some time to write more of my story of the half-vampire girl.

"Just something about a girl who's half vampire," I answered without interest, while my fingers flew over the keys.

"How romantic!" Nicole was always a surprise. "And yet so scary."

"I don't think you'll find anything scary in any of my stories."

"Oh. Is it because a _certain_ person is inspiring you?" her voice was sly, while she played with one of my teddies from the bed.

"What? Who are you talking about?" I couldn't think of a single person who would inspire me to anything. Well, maybe Nicole – but only a little.

"I think you know who I'm talking about," she said and winked at me.

"No, I don't." _And why do you have to be so cryptic?_

Nicole sighed. "Michelle, I said I would do anything to help you not to fall in love again," she paused. And I still didn't know who she was talking about. "But you have to admit when you admire somebody or even think a little about them. I can't help you if you don't."

"Nicole, I wish you wouldn't be so cryptic. Who are we talking about?" I said, but I now had an idea about who she meant.

"You are so unbelievable!" Nicole exclaimed. "Sure you know! Or did you only trip outside the gym, to look like a clown?"

I blushed. My suspicion was confirmed. She had meant Edward Cullen. "He was... good looking, nothing else."

"He was only _good looking_?" she put her right index-finger under her chin and her thumb rested on her cheek, while she sent me a sly smile.

"Nicole!" I said and threw one of my teddy's – which was lying on the desk – at her.

"Okay okay! You win!" she said, her arms flew up to show me she surrendered. "But not in a pillow fight!" she ran out of my room. Nicole always ceased to surprise me. Maybe that was why she was the closest friend I had ever had.

I just had time to safe what I had written, close my notebook and run towards my bed for my own pillow, before Nicole came in, ready for fight...

My alarm-clock didn't even wake me up the next morning. I was so excited that I couldn't believe it. I shortly looked at my clock and saw that it was half past six. Fifteen minutes until my alarm should wake me up.

I got up and packed my schoolbag. It was a little worn out, but it would be perfect if I got a locker for my books. Even though most at school probably would use their computers to take notes, I would bring a notebook and a pencil case. I was very old fashioned and therefore very happy with the schedule. It didn't change from day to day, like in Denmark. But I had the same classes everyday...

I heard my alarm and turned it off. Nicole had told me to use the bathroom as the first one, in the morning. She always needed to check her e-mails.

I went into the bathroom and started to brush my teeth. As I did this, I looked at myself in the mirror. I was met by a pair of tired, yet excited and big blue eyes. They had a green edge to them, but every time I had tried to tell my father about it, he had screamed that my eyes were _all_ blue. I looked closely at my face. It was a little long, – though it looked square – my cheeks were a little round and my chin was a little pointy. My cheekbones were pretty high and my jaw bones were very dominant, and you could easily see them if my hair was put up in a ponytail or such.

My nose was little and delicate. I had inherited my mother's fine nose and her eyes. Except for the color of them – I had my father to thank for that. My mother had brown eyes with a green hint. I guess that's where I got the green in my eyes from. I then looked at my mouth, and sighed. My upper lip was a little too thin to match my full lower lip. This was even more characteristic when I smiled.

And even though it was about one and a half a year ago that I had gotten my waist length hair cut shoulders length, it had grown about half an inch since then. Only now that I had gotten curly hair – the day before I had flown to Forks – it was probably about shoulders length again. And it was dark blonde. Or light brown, I wasn't sure. But it was lighter than my mothers, or even my brothers brown hair.

I had actually had it in a ponytail while I slept, but now it looked like hell because I didn't sleep very soundly. I sighed. How was I ever going to make it look tolerably without washing it? I had washed it yesterday! Through the last week I had had my hair in a ponytail, even after I had washed it (no one was going to see me, other that Nicole and her parents so I didn't need to worry about how I looked). But now when I really needed to look at least bearable for school, I had no idea how I was going to manage it.

I washed my face, and Nicole came into the bathroom. "I thought you said you were fast in the morning," she joked.

"I usually am but my new hair is beginning to become a problem." I had just combed it, but it still looked like hell. _No wonder that people with curls want to have flat hair_, I thought, my mental voice sounded very annoyed.

"No problem," Nicole just said. She grabbed a bottle from one of the cupboards. "I got my hair curled too after I came back from Denmark," she started to tell. "But three weeks ago my hair was flat again. Just one week after I bought a new styler."

I smiled. Nicole had just saved my day – and my hair for that sake. "Nicole you're a genius." I was sure she could hear the smile in my voice.

"I know," she proudly said.

We finished and went into our rooms to get dressed. I decided to wear a pair of normal jeans and my purple T-shirt with a Bambi image on it. I would be wearing my baggy, gray sweater, which was colorful on the front. It had a hood, if it would start raining.

"Is that the only thing you're going to be wearing?" Nicole asked me as I got out of my room. Did it get that cold outside?

"I guess I could wear my red raincoat." I suppressed a grimace. I hated that raincoat. I looked like hell with it on.

"That would probably be a good idea. It can get pretty cold up here."

We went down into the dining room and found a laid table.

"Morning girls! I just have time to grab a bite with you before I drive," Nicole's mother said. "Your father's already at work. He had an early shift. And sweetie, remember the key, will you?" Judith didn't look like an over concerned mother but she sure behaved like one. She was just like my own mom. I couldn't help smiling.

"Mom, I've done it before you know," Nicole sighed.

"I know honey," she kissed Nicole on the cheek, grabbed a slice of bread and said, "See you two later. Have a good day at school, you especially Michelle." She smiled at me and smiled back.

Nicole and I sat down and we heard the door close. Then we were alone.

"Do you mind if I call my parents?" I asked Nicole. I had been brought up to not play with my cell phone while I was eating, but I had to call my parents and tell them good morning.

"Do as you please," she said, while pouring cereals into a bowl.

I grabbed an apple and started eating it. Throughout the last year I had been very conscious about what I was eating. And about half a year ago I had turned vegetarian. Another thing Nicole didn't know yet.

Before I dialed the number to Denmark on my phone, I quickly asked Nicole, "How far do we actually have to school with the car?" It was a quarter past seven and school started a quarter to nine.

"About half an hour. But I think we should be going a little earlier today than normal. You need to get your schedule and such." Nicole grabbed a spoon and started eating.

I just nodded and held my cell to my ear. It was about 11:15 PM in Denmark.

"Hello?" I could clearly hear my brother's voice. He was still up. Maybe he was watching a very exciting movie.

"Michelle here. Am I speaking with the man of the house?" my voice sounded as if I lived in the 1800th century.

"Look at you teasing Michelle," I heard my mother say. Ah, I was on speaker.

I laughed. "I'm just calling to say good morning, and that I'm driving to school soon."

"Hopefully not yourself?" my father teased.

"No, Nicole's driving," I laughed again.

"Okay," my dad said.

"Well I just wanted to say good morning anyway."

"Good morning," my brother said, his voice teasing.

"Goodnight," I played along. "I'll call again tonight."

"See you." And then they were gone.

Nicole and I were sitting, eating in silence, until we saw that it was 7:45 AM. We hurried into our rooms, grabbed our bags and raincoats and ran out the door. Nicole locked it and we went over to her car. I noticed that the blue painting wasn't looking too well by the tires. But I guessed it wasn't something that couldn't be fixed.

Nicole was driving a bit slower than she normally did, since we actually were pretty early. "Do you need me to follow you to the office?" she asked me, as she had parked the car.

"You know my sense of direction," I playfully said, and we both laughed. But it was true that I couldn't find my way. I would probably even get lost in my own pocket one day.

The office wasn't hard to find, since it was in the front of the school, and the door had a sign saying _Front Office_. There weren't really any cars parking in front of the office, so I guessed it was for teachers and staff. Most of the cars there looked a lot better than the ones of the students. The only "pretty" car back there, had been a silver Volvo – and even that had been outstanding.

Nicole and I walked into the office and I immediately felt the heat. In that moment I cursed myself for wearing an ugly raincoat.

"Can I help you?" a red-haired lady asked us.

"I'm Michelle Fairytale," I answered her. Right then her eyes widened just a little bit. I wanted to sigh. Or groan. Even the teachers had been gossiping about me. But it was as I expected of a small town, where everyone knew each other for generations.

The woman gave me my schedule and a map of the school. "Here you go dear. I've marked a couple of shortcuts for you. Oh and here's a slip. It's for the teachers to sign." She smiled very friendly at me. Her voice had been extremely sweet, almost like a peach.

"Yeah I know," I answered.

"Well then, have a good day!" she sweetly said.

"Thanks." I wanted to look down at the floor. I was getting pretty nervous. Soon I was too be 'the new girl' in my first class.

Nicole and I walked out the office and I quickly shot a glance at my schedule:

**Monday:** English, Music, Trig, German, Lunch, Biology, Gym

**Tuesday:** English, Music, Trig, German, Lunch, Biology, Gym

**Wednesday:** English, Music, Trig, German, Lunch, Biology, Gym

**Thursday:** English, Music, Trig, German, Lunch, Biology, Gym

**Friday:** English, Music, Trig, German, Lunch, Biology, Gym

It wasn't as bad as I had imagined. At least Gym was at the end of the day.

"So what do you think so far?" Nicole asked me after a while. I quickly looked at my wrist watch. We had another 15 minutes until the first lesson.

"Except for the many old cars," I teased. "I like it." My stomach suddenly felt like it was full of butterflies. _So this is how it feels being the new girl... Never again are you going to try this Michelle!_

Even though I felt a little sick, I wanted to tease Nicole just a little. I needed some distraction from my shaking stomach. "What's actually your first class?" I nonchalantly asked her.

"English, why?" she looked confused.

"Well I thought I could join you." I had always been very good at acting, so it came naturally to me when I wanted to trick Nicole.

"But you can't ditch on your first day of school!" she looked absolutely horrified. I couldn't help but to laugh at it.

"What's so funny?" she demanded and I handed her my schedule. I still couldn't stop laughing. She suddenly started joining me in laughing. "Who would have ever thought that we would have English together?" she said and we both walked towards our class together.


	5. Chapter 4: Mystic Atmosphere

**4. Mystic Atmosphere**

Nicole and I walked towards a building marked with a large black "3". Inside we quickly found our classroom. I saw Nicole hanging her raincoat outside of class, so I followed her example. As we walked into the class I noticed a nameplate on the teacher's desk, identifying him as Mr. Mason. Then I suddenly felt somebody tapping my shoulder.

"What's wrong?" I asked as I saw Nicole's annoyed expression.

"I almost forgot that I'm already sitting next to someone," she didn't look too pleased by the thought. I figured that she wanted to sit beside me – help me through the hour.

"I'm sure it's going to work out," I said while I walked towards the teacher. He shortly glanced at me as I handed him the slip he was supposed to sign. Then he sent me to an empty desk in the back of the class, but that was fine with me. It would be easier for me to concentrate that way.

Mr. Mason had given me a curriculum of the topics he was going to teach this year. I noticed Shakespeare, Chaucer, Faulkner, Brontë. In Denmark I was actually first going to learn about Shakespeare next year, so I thought it a good idea to listen even more, when we were going to learn about him. The hour went pretty slowly so I took as many notes as I could. Mr. Mason talked a little fast a couple of times, but I guess I had to get used to that.

Finally the bell rang and I put my things in my bag.

"Hey. You're Michelle Fairytale, right?" I heard a boy in front of me ask. I looked up to see Eric – from the cafeteria last week – sit in front of me.

"Yeah, that's me. We met last week didn't we?" I friendly asked him. _And I already have someone to help me find my way, thank you very much_, I couldn't keep myself from thinking. He seemed like the overly helpful type.

"Yeah, at lunch," he laughed. "Where's your next class?"

I internally sighed. "I have Music with Miss Jason in building 7," I knew that this was building 3, so I was looking forward to quite a little walk.

"Oh, okay. I'm supposed to be in building 4. But I could show you the way?" he sounded hopeful. I guessed that he needed a new friend or something. He practically looked like a really smart guy. Maybe even a nerd.

In that moment I saw Nicole walking towards me and said, "You don't need to. Nicole has American History in building 6. But thanks anyway." I send him a friendly smile. Nicole and I went out of the class, took our jackets and walked towards building 7. It was actually really easy to find, since it was marked with a big black "7" in the front. Just like all the other buildings...

"Eric Yorkie likes you," Nicole suddenly said. She sounded _way_ too casual.

"What? He just asked if I needed any help."

"He normally doesn't just talk to anybody," she firmly said.

"Maybe he just wanted to be my friend," I quickly said, before Nicole got to open her mouth again. I knew she wanted to help me with not falling in love again, but she didn't need to tell me such things. If I needed her help I would come to her.

"Sure he wanted to."

As we then reached the Music classroom, she asked me, "Where's your next class actually?"

I looked at my schedule, "Trig in building 2."

"Just wait for me there outside the building. I have Algebra in there too," she smiled.

"Great. I will," I smiled back, and then she hurried to her class.

During Music everyone had to show their talent, since I was new and such. And of course I had to sing. I was really nervous since I didn't know anyone in that class. The teacher, Miss Jason, had immediately said that I had to join the school band, to sing at prom.

_That's what you call blessing in disguise Michelle,_ I had thought. _Get used to it! And besides, it's going to be great practice for the competition in one year, you know._

After class I went to building 2 where Nicole was standing, waiting for me. She followed me to my class again, before she headed off to Algebra. My teacher, Mr. Varner, was the only one who asked me to introduce myself. I had tried to sound like I wasn't nervous, but I wasn't sure if I succeeded. He then asked me to sit down, right next to Jessica – who I had too met in the cafeteria last week.

"My God! We have Trig together!" she had exclaimed and I had just smiled friendly back. She didn't look like it, but she sure acted like a blonde, who had nothing else in her head but gossip. If she ever asked me for the details in my unhappy love life, how was I ever going to lie to her? I knew I was a very good liar, but when people surprised me and I had to quickly lie, a light flush _always_ exposed me.

After Trig I had German in building 3. Jessica had Spanish with Nicole, so she showed me the way to class. Blabbering about boys, teachers and school the whole way.

_Definitely born a blonde, _I thought. _She must have dyed her hair or something to hide it. _I laughed out loud at my "discovery" and Jessica smiled encouraging smile at me. I must have laughed at a right time, since I wasn't really listening to a word she said.

"And this is your class," she said as we stood in front of an old looking door. "My class is unfortunately in the other end of the building," she looked a little sad by the thought. Maybe she wasn't _all_ like I was imagining her.

"Why do you actually have German and not Spanish?" she suddenly just threw out. It startled me a little that she had changed subject that fast.

"I'm half Austrian. I wouldn't want to waste my German while I'm here," I answered her.

"Gosh! You speak German fluidly?" she seemed surprised. Didn't I look like an Austrian girl? _Ha! Probably not, my friend._

German went just as Trig, only with the exception that when Mrs. Traube asked me something, and I answered her in perfect German, she asked me where I had learned this.

"I'm half Austrian," I answered her, just like I had answered Jessica.

"That's great! Then you already know a lot of the things we're going through."

I just nodded. I knew enough German to get enough of it. Especially the grammar, it always made me grimace. I s_ucked_ at grammar work.

When the bell finally rang for lunch, I felt how hungry I was. I really looked forward to eat something. Nicole was waiting for me outside my class. "How was German?" she curiously asked me.

"About the same as English was for you in Denmark."

"Easy?" she teased.

"No, _boringly_ easy," I answered her and laughed a little at our private joke. English in Denmark was very easy since it was most grammar work, essay's and reading easy texts. Even _I_ had thought that.

We walked towards the cafeteria and I felt my stomach rumble. I was hoping to find just _something_ vegetarian, like salad. And I was lucky. They had bowls with salad. My day was saved – or at least my hunger. I bought a bowl and an apple. I could get pretty hungry when I only ate healthy food. This was a complete mystery to me, since it actually had to be the opposite. Unhealthy food was supposed to make you even hungrier, but somehow I wasn't like everybody else. It was the same if I drank energy drinks. They made me tired instead of waking me up. _You are just anything but ordinary,_ I sarcastically thought. How I yearned to be ordinary sometimes. It was almost something to be ashamed of.

"Aren't you getting anymore than that?" Nicole's worried voice brought me back to the cafeteria again. She looked at me as if I had some kind of eating disorder – like anorexia.

"Calm down Nicole, I've turned vegetarian, and there's not really anything else I can eat," she looked less concerned, but she was going to confront me about it again. I sighed.

"Since when did you turn vegetarian?" she asked, while we sat down at the same table as last week.

"Since April I guess."

"Who's vegetarian?" Jessica's voice was easy to hear, even though she was almost sitting at the other end of the table.

I wanted to rest my head in my hands. _Definitely born blonde,_ I thought before answering, "I am. I read a magazine about how they treat animals on farms. And I can't eat them, without thinking about how they were treated." I didn't know if they heard my disgust about the subject. But I sure hoped they would support me.

I was suddenly surprised by Mike – who I'd too met at this table last week – saying, "You're right. It is disgusting to eat something like that, when you don't know how they were treated," he didn't seem to notice that he took a bite of his pepperoni pizza.

_You're eating_ something like that _right now, idiot,_ I thought, while keeping straight face.

Jessica then craved Mike's attention, and I was actually happy that she was a little like a blonde – at least on the inside.

Everyone then started to talk and I suddenly heard Nicole whispering, "Well? Seen anyone interesting?"

I almost groaned. Was she trying to help me or was she trying to annoy me to death? I decided to ignore her teasing smile and just answered, "Not really. It's just as boring as my old school," my voice sounding indifferent.

"I thought it wasn't that boring to begin with?" she teased.

I flushed red and looked down at my tray. This was something I didn't want anyone to hear about. _Especially_ not Jessica.

Nicole's hand flew to her mouth. "Oh my God! I'm so sorry Michelle!" she looked ashamed. "I forgot. I'm so sorry. It won't happen again, I swear!"

"It's okay." I had already forgiven her. Anybody could forget something like that. Besides, she had whispered it all to me, so the others hadn't heard a word of it.

I grabbed my fork and started eating. After a while I decided not to listen to the conversation at the table, but to look around in the cafeteria instead. And I couldn't help my gaze from wandering towards the five perfect people. They weren't looking at nothing today, but they looked at each other instead, talking and laughing. They looked so idyllic. The thought made me smile, but another made me sigh. My family looked idyllic on the outside, but was like hell on the inside.

As I thought about that, I started noticing something. While Emmet, Rosalie, Jasper and Alice looked happy, or even blissful, Edward looked like he would rather be somewhere else – anywhere else. I somehow saw it in the expression of his face. An expression I had too often seen on myself. He then suddenly looked at me and I quickly looked away. People like them would never talk to a girl like me. They were gorgeous, perfect. It was only because I was starring at them that they looked back occasionally. But I had also noticed, in the short period of time I had seen them that no one talked to them. _Hmm... Quite strange actually..._

I looked at their table again, just to see their perfect faces. It was almost like a drug – like their beauty made me high. I had actually read that beauty could be like a drug to people, but I had never expected it to be other than computer generated faces that could look absolutely perfect. My mind suddenly started to compare their beauty, and I couldn't quite decide who was the prettiest. It was either the blond Rosalie or Edward with the reddish-brown hair. I would probably never come to a conclusion.

I finished eating and actually spend more time in the cafeteria than I had intentionally intended.

"Nicole, do you know where Biology's at?" I asked nervously. I knew that it was in building 2, but I had no idea where it was exactly. And I really didn't want to be late on my first day.

"No, actually not. I have Chemistry not Biology," she looked vexed by the thought. "But I'm sure Angela knows. She has Biology too," Nicole gestured towards Angela, who shyly managed to look up.

"Do you want me to show you the way?" she friendly asked me. I was going to have a friend in Angela, I could feel that.

"That would be very nice of you," I answered and we started to walk.

We didn't talk much on the way to class, but I actually appreciated that. I finally had time to think a little, let the impression of the school sink in. I had time to think about the fact that my first day in an American High School was almost over. It was quite a strange feeling.

When we entered the classroom I immediately noticed a boy with untidy reddish-brown hair. He was sitting at a table in the middle of the class. And he didn't even look up when I saw him. Not like he had done in the cafeteria...

I pushed the thought away and walked to the desk. My teacher, Mr. Banner, signed the slip and send me to the only free spot in the class. Next to Edward Cullen.

I took a deep breath and started to walk towards him. As I walked, I started feeling dizzy, almost as if I would pass out any moment. Maybe I hadn't eaten enough at lunch. I took one more step and shortly glanced at Edward. My eyes caught his for the fraction of a second, but I had noticed the color of them. His eyes had been golden – almost like butterscotch. _Strange_, my only thought had been. _He has to wear contacts or something. _I was sure that butterscotch wasn't a normal eye color.

I took another step, and my eyes met his again. But this time his gaze was different – almost full of hate. If it hadn't been for the fact that I had danced ballet for the last 6 years, I surely would have tripped. And I wasn't clumsy, but this guy made me trip – just like that. And because I almost tripped, I felt how the heat flowed to my cheeks.

When I finally dared to look at him once more, he looked normal again. But he had moved his chair as far away from my side, as the table allowed.

I sat down and did exactly the same to him.

It wasn't because I had anything against him; I just didn't see what he had against me. Had he been looking angrily at me at lunch? No, I was absolutely positive that he hadn't. But if he was being like that towards me, I was treating him the same way. _Treat others like you would treat yourself_, I thought and then class started. Mr. Banner started talking of cellular anatomy, something simple. I'd already gone through that in Denmark.

The hour almost seemed longer than any of the other classes, but I still took as many notes as I could. A few times I even looked at Edward, but his eyes were full of hate again.

Something inside of me wished to move further away, but I only looked angrily back at him – making him taste his own medicine. As I did this, his eyes turned curious, but I looked away before I could find out if he was looking angry again. This guy was being absolutely cryptic, and I was extremely curious to find out why, by looking at him. But I stared at the blackboard instead, trying to take as many notes as possible.

After what seemed like ages, the bell finally rang and Edward rose from his seat and was out of the class faster, and more graceful, than I had ever seen anybody move. I felt how my head curiously and thoughtfully moved to one side. _I__s it just me or was he just _extremely _fast?_

"Hey! You're Michelle Fairytale right? The vegetarian girl who sang in the cafeteria last week?" I heard the voice of a boy say.

I looked back and saw Mike – the guy who had eaten pizza, while saying it was stupid to eat meat – smiling at me. "Yeah," I smiled back. "You're Mike, right?"

"Mike Newton," we shook hands. "There are others here named Mike, so I just wanted you to know." we both laughed a little.

Mike was being very friendly, and even funny. After sitting next to an angry-looking Edward Cullen, Mike seemed overly cheerful. I could almost picture him as a dog, pulling his owner behind him. A rather entertaining picture.

"So, what did you do to Cullen? I've never seen him act like that before."

This wasn't Edward's normal behavior? I had the biggest desire to just slander him, but I wouldn't be the one starting a war. If _he _didn't like _me_, he was welcome to tell everybody. Then I would begin saying evil things about him.

"I actually didn't do anything," I answered Mike. "I guess he must have had a bad day or something," I said indifferently, and shrugged, as if I hadn't really noticed the glaring boy beside me.

"Oh, okay," Mike just answered.

I was about to look at my schedule, when Mike suddenly asked, "Where's your next class actually?"

_Mike, Mike, Mike. You're a Golden Retriever._ "I have Gym, but I think I know where I'm heading." I knew that, thanks to Nicole last week. How stupid I had been back then. To think that Edward had only been amused by me tripping. He was surely planning revenge over me for "stalking". But I wouldn't lose that easily – that I promised myself.

"Ha, funny! I have Gym too," Mike smiled widely. I just smiled politely at him. I normally didn't talk that much to boys, I was too shy. Or I _usually_ was. But I still couldn't keep myself from sighing internally. _A Golden Retriever_.

"By the way, Nicole has Gym too," he added and I was sure that I looked surprised.

"She didn't tell me," I felt how I frowned.

"Maybe it was a surprise," he sounded friendly, yet self-reproachful.

"If you don't tell her, and I don't tell her, it's still a surprise," I said to him, almost smirking at my own cleverness. Okay, I was very proud of being intelligent, I knew that. But this wasn't one of my brightest ideas. Yet I couldn't help but feeling proud of it.

Mike just nodded and smiled. After that we started walking. Shortly after stepping out of the building he started asking where I was from.

"From Denmark," I answered.

"Denmark? I think I've heard that name before..." his eyes narrowed, as if he was concentrating hard on remembering something.

"We're the leading experts on Wind energy. And it's situated to the southwest of Sweden and Norway, just above Germany." I tried to sound as if it didn't matter to me, but I couldn't help feeling proud. Denmark was expert on Wind energy. We at least tried to save the environment, while others in the world didn't care about it.

"Oh! That little spot? Does the sun shine there very often?" he looked at my pale complexion, probably wondering how I had only gotten _minimally_ suntanned.

"In the summer the sun shines often enough but it can rain a lot too. I guess it rains about 200 days of the year. And in the winter it's pretty cloudy. But if you're lucky the sun shines about once or twice a month." all this reminded me of my room, my friends, my parents and the beautiful nature. I started longing to go home, which I had never done before in my entire life. Not even on my first trip away from home in the second grade, where I had been about 8 years old.

"You don't look very tan," his voice sounded a bit concerned. I sighed. He reminded me of my parents concern about my D-vitamin level.

"I just have a very hard time getting a tan," I said sighing. "I'll maybe be able to get an easier one when I'm 40 or so," I grimaced. It had been like that with my mother. She had had a hard time getting tanned, while her mother got a tan just like that. But when she was about 40 she started getting it easier. And she got freckles too in the sun, which I secretly wanted too. It looked so good on her.

"You know, it's okay to miss the sun. I lived in California, until I as ten so I know how you feel," he sincerely told me.

"You know I wouldn't have thought that about you."

He just laughed at my statement. "Well I wouldn't have thought you from anywhere but Forks too, if I didn't know better."

I laughed, and we reached the Gym. I walked into the girl's locker room and in there Nicole surprised me – I had absolutely forgotten what Mike had told me before – she had Gym too. The teacher Coach Clapp gave me a uniform, but I didn't have to change that day. I was happy about that, since I was more in a thinking mood. I wasn't really ready for activity yet.

As the bell finally sounded, Nicole ran towards me and said, "Can you wait for me by the car? I need to change and such."

I nodded and smiled at her. "Sure." But she looked a little worried at me. "Don't worry. I'll find my way to the office and back to your car in a blur. I don't have a _that_ bad sense of direction," I was playing insulted, and Nicole laughed.

I walked out of the Gym and towards the office. It had started to drizzle, so I pushed the hood of my raincoat over my head. As I reached the door of the front office it rained a little heavier than before, and I hurried inside. I pushed the hood off my head, closed my eyes and breathed in heavily. It was so nice and warm in there, that I started to sweat just after I had entered the room. When I finally opened my eyes, I saw a tall figure with bronze-colored hair stand by the desk in front of me.

_Edward Cullen._

I felt how my back started to straighten up and I started to glare at his back. But I had to force my eyes to look elsewhere in the room, to concentrate on the conversation he had with the receptionist.

He was trying to switch his Biology class to another one – any other.

What did that boy have against me? I had never met him or seen him before. Did he know some of the people I didn't like in Denmark? Normally I really hated being angry, or show others that I was. But when I was finally angry, I was angry. And I couldn't turn happy just like that.

The door to the office opened and I felt how the air played with my hair. A red-haired girl came in with a bunch of papers and placed them on the desk. I noticed out of the corner of my eye, that Edward had stiffened. As the girl walked out, he slowly turned around.

When he looked at me, he had that same hateful expression from Biology, and his nose wrinkled.

I felt how my back straightened again and how my face turned hard. I stared back at him as coldly as I could. He had to know that I wasn't scared of him – not one bit. But I still couldn't help my hair from rising on my arms. Yet it didn't keep me from glaring back at him.

His stare turned curious, just like in Biology, but switched back to hateful after a few moments. Then he turned around to look at the receptionist and said, "Never mind. I can see it's impossible." he paused for a second glaring at me. He looked as if he was planning on something. "Thank you very much anyway," his voice was very hard, yet it was like velvet and sounded like bells at the same time.

I almost forgot to glare at him.

He then started walking towards the door, his hateful eyes never leaving mine. I starred fearlessly back at him, and as he passed me, I felt how my hands clenched into fists.

When he was finally outside I noticed that I had forgotten to breathe. I took some deep breaths and walked towards the desk.

"Well, how was your day dear?" the receptionist friendly asked me.

"Fine," I answered a little too stiffly. I still needed some time to relax. Whenever I was angry I always needed some time to calm down.

She just looked concerned at me, but accepted the slip.

I slowly walked out of the office, but once I was outside I started to walk much faster towards Nicole's car. My steps were a little stiff, but I was very mad.

When I walked past the shiny silver Volvo, I noticed Edward Cullen sitting inside of it. I quickened my pace and my head turned away from his car. Of course it was _his_ car. Nice looking people were always rich. And nice looking, rich people could afford to look down on others. I snorted.

In that moment I knew exactly how Elizabeth Bennet had felt every time she saw Mr. Darcy in _"Pride and Prejudice"_. Even though Edward Cullen hadn't behaved arrogantly, he had behaved rudely and hatefully towards me – without any reason – I had never done anything to harm him. And that was what made me so angry.

Nicole was already standing by her car and got into it when she saw me approach her. I got in and slammed the door shut. "That guy is unbelievable!" I angrily exclaimed, without thinking twice about what I said. And I slammed my fists into the seat.

"What happened?" Nicole's voice sounded very worried. She had never seen me angry before – I was certain about it. There weren't actually many people who had ever experienced me when I was mad. It happened so rarely, that when I first had gotten angry, my temper was extremely bad. And there had to happen quite a lot until I got angry.

"It doesn't matter. I just need to calm down," I could already feel how Nicole's presence made me relax a bit.

While we drove I thought things through. I wasn't going to tell anybody about _his_ evil stares. I would silently be planning my revenge on him. I internally laughed about how my zodiac suddenly took control. The scorpion was normally a dark person, who got attracted by mystic things and phenomenons. If anyone treated a scorpion bad, the scorpion would think of a plan to revenge themselves. And they were really bad at forgiving – which I was. And I was attracted to strange things and mystical creatures. Such as vampires, werewolves, elves, strong feelings. And the stars, UFO's – though I didn't believe in them. I was even attracted to magic.

We reached Nicole's house and I felt like my 'non-angry' self again. "I'm really sorry about before," I started as we got out of the car. And as I opened my mouth to say more, no words came out. I didn't want to lie to Nicole, but I had promised myself to keep it a secret too.

"What's wrong?" she looked both concerned and bewildered. "You know you can tell me."

I sighed, and hesitated, before I finally told her what had happened in Biology and in the front office. When I finished, Nicole looked astonished. "I've heard how he normally behaves in class. He's supposed to always have the right answer and never failing a test. But I wouldn't know if it's true. I haven't got any classes with him."

I thought about that. He was a straight-A student. Why would he then start to hate me? Was I maybe smarter than him or something? "Nicole I'd appreciate if you didn't tell anyone about this. I don't want the whole school blabbering about it," I would slowly try to find out about his weak sides and then: 'bang!' – I would have my revenge.

"Your secret is safe with me," Nicole said and we shook a secret handshake to seal the oath.


	6. Chapter 5: Second Chances

**5. Second Chances**

I was sitting in my room thinking about what had happened that day. My iPod was playing one of my favorite artists at the moment, so it made me relax a lot. Nicole was in her room making something that she called "a surprise for soon". I shook my head and lay down on my bed.

This day had been absolutely different than I had anticipated. First were the overly helpful boys. I had a very bad intuition when it came to boys, but I had a strange feeling that Nicole was right. They didn't just want to be friends with me, and it scared me a little. I had always been a shy girl, not being noticed by boys. And now they almost hunted me. Pretty scary actually – if Nicole was even right.

I sighed. _Let's hope she's mistaken_, I thought and moved on with my train of thoughts.

The other strange thing that day had been Edward Cullen. I felt how my teeth and fists began to clench. Why had he been starring so hatefully at me? What did he have against me? I had never seen him before in my life, so why did he suddenly hate me so much?

I loudly groaned and threw a pillow over my head. I couldn't stand thinking about it. I hadn't been to Forks more than 8 days, and I already had enemies.

_Way to go Michelle!_ I sighed.

Without finding a solution for Edwards hate against me – and without having thought of my revenge – I got up from my bed, grabbed some books from my bag and began making homework for next week. It was best to start now, than to start in the last moment.

The next day was just like the last one. I got to school and I already recognized a few of the faces on the parking lot. They waved at me and I waved at them.

In English I saw Mike and he sat down beside me. Nicole had actually planned to do that, but he had been faster. I had looked apologetically at her, and hoped she would forgive Mike. But he _had_ to change a little if he didn't want to end up being stabbed in the back by Nicole. And I knew she wouldn't hesitate one second in doing that, if Mike tried to steal me.

In Music we went through some of the music for a song, but since I couldn't read music I got a book about it. Others did too – Miss Jason wanted everyone to understand her lecture.

In Trig we went through the trigonometrical formulas – which I had already gone through in Denmark – and Jessica blabbered through the whole period. I had almost sighed out loud every time she had talked of Mike. She was really into him, it was easy to see. It actually turned out quite comical, when we bumped into him on our way towards building 3. She had been talking about him again, as he had turned the corner of the building. I had been _that_ close to laughing. Jessica had blushed and quickly said hi. I said hi too, but it surely had looked like a huge grin instead.

In German Mrs. Traube talked of the 4 cases. Another boring period.

When it was finally lunch, I started getting pretty nervous. I expected to see Edward Cullen glaring at me from the other end of the cafeteria. And I planned on totally ignoring him – or at least let him think so.

But he wasn't even there.

There were only sitting four people at the table. Had I scared him away by glaring back? I started feeling extremely guilty. It hadn't been my plan to let him drop out of school. I had just wanted to humiliate him. I wouldn't ever have thought myself capable of scaring anybody away. Suddenly my stomach started twisting and turning, and I decided to only buy an apple and some water for now. I had lost my appetite.

"Is something wrong? You look so concerned," Nicole, who sat next to me, looked surprised at me.

"No, I'm fine. I'm just not hungry today." I smiled at her, and pretended to be happy. I started wearing my personal acting mask.

I mostly wanted to just nibble at my apple, but I ate it and I actively took part of the conversation at the table. It was mostly about a trip to the beach by the Indian reservation.

When the bell finally sounded I walked towards Biology with heavy steps. I actually hoped that Edward would be sitting in his chair, looking hatefully at me. It made me feel extremely guilty to think about that I had scared him away. That wasn't what I had intended.

Mike walked beside me all the way – as the Golden Retriever he was – and talked on and on about the trip to the beach. I was happy that he didn't ask me about my sudden glumness. If I wasn't automatically wearing my acting mask.

As we reached Biology, my mood got even worse.

The seat next to mine was empty.

_There's your revenge,_ I sarcastically thought. _He left because of your scary temper._

Mike was quickly by my side again, before he sat down on a seat in front of me. He was smiling, but I only managed to smile back at him half-heartedly.

Actually I didn't want to play happy. I felt absolutely horrible, and that because Edward Cullen had dropped out because of me.

Mr. Banner asked me about something and I answered. He seemed pleased about my answer, so I figured that I had been correct.

In Gym we played Volleyball and it annoyed me a bit. The only thing I was good at in that game was serving – and only if I had a lucky day. But I was lucky that day, and could actually play very well. I guess that my team had never tried winning before – or tried that a servicer scored – because I stood at least ten minutes and served each time it was my turn. I scored almost every time.

But when I wasn't serving I didn't play very well. I even hit one from the other team with the ball, as I tried to score. I had flushed red and apologized at least a quadrillion times.

After class my teammates gave me a couple of high-fives and some from the other team scowled at me. Mike had smiled at me, praising me for being a very good player. I had just objected against it. Nicole had been in a very high mood, I had made her team win. But every time I had tried to tell her it wasn't because of me, she had said, "Michelle you're too modest!" but she had at least agreed to that I was a little clumsy when I wasn't serving.

As we sat in her car, on our way home, Nicole suddenly surprised me with a question. "Why were you actually so depressed in the cafeteria today? I've never seen you that concerned before."

Edward Cullen had been forgotten, until that very moment.

I felt guilty again, and hated myself for glaring at him the day before. I hesitated for a long time, before Nicole's hand flew up. "You don't need to tell me if you don't want to," she quickly glanced at me. "But it would be nice to know if it's anything I can help you with."

"Thanks Nicole," I simply said. I knew I could trust her, but I needed time to find out if Edward really had dropped out of school. As we reached her house, I suddenly got an idea. It was actually a bit crazy, but I needed some answers anyway.

"Nicole did you notice that Edward Cullen wasn't in school today?" I asked her as nonchalant as possible. I hoped she didn't ask what I wanted with the information.

"No I didn't. Wasn't he sitting with his family?" she really sounded like she hadn't noticed him at all. A part of my theory was being confirmed in that moment.

"I don't know," I shrugged. "He wasn't in Biology either." I still sounded as if I wasn't really interested. "Does he usually ditch?"

"Don't ask me. I don't have any classes with him," she said as we walked into the living room. "I have Algebra with his sister Alice though. But she doesn't ditch," she shrugged. "But they all go out camping and hiking whenever the sun is shining. Even the Doctor and his wife."

With that my forming theory was confirmed. Nobody actually noticed any of the Cullen's. They were gorgeous but unpopular. I suddenly felt pity for them.

"Why do you actually want to know that?" Nicole had just turned on the large flat screen in the living room.

I didn't know if my cheeks turned a little red, but it surely took me by surprise. "Um... I just wondered since Edward wasn't there in Biology," I tried to sound indifferent, but I wasn't sure if I succeeded.

Nicole snickered a little before saying, "Maybe he just needed a day off. You _are_ pretty scary when you're angry."

Edward wasn't even in school all week.

When it was finally Friday, and he still hadn't showed, I decided to try to accept the fact that he had dropped out – because of me. So, I had scared him away, who cares? I had gotten my revenge, without anyone ever knowing it was my fault. Yet, I couldn't keep myself from looking at the table he normally sat by. Only there were sitting four people know, instead of five.

To begin with, I had expected them to glare at me for scaring off their brother, but they never worthied me a glance. They actually never noticed anything around them. And nobody noticed them either.

I blushed at the thought of how often I actually looked at them. There was something about them I couldn't quite put my finger on. They were so perfect, that I couldn't help myself from starring. But they never looked back. Only _once_ one of them had looked back at me. The little pixie-like girl, Alice, had once looked surprisingly up at me. It had been as if she had just had some kind of epiphany, because she looked at me with extremely curious eyes. Then her boyfriend, Jasper, had made her turn her head away. He had only mumbled something to her, never even looking at me.

In the weekend I made most of my homework. I actually got ahead with it, which was new for me. I hadn't had the need of Nicole's help as often as I had anticipated. It had probably something to do with the three weeks of English classes I had taken, while I was on vacation in Austria.

So most of the weekend I sat writing on my story or talking to Nicole about school.

When it was Monday again, I knew most of the names of the people in the parking lot. This school was just as small as my old one, everyone knew each other. It was kind of cozy, when you thought about it.

I went through the day, without ever feeling guilty of being the reason behind Edward Cullen's disappearance. I had come to the conclusion that he couldn't stand me, and that was why he had escaped. As Nicole and I were on our way to the cafeteria, it started snowing. And I couldn't stop myself from smiling at the familiar white flakes.

"It's snowing!" Nicole looked like she wanted to run back and forth like a toddler, trying to catch a snowflake. Right then Mike came walking towards us.

"Isn't it nice?" he asked. "Anyone in for a snowball fight later?" he smiled widely at me but I just shook my head.

"I've been thrown at one too many times, to ever trust anybody with a snowball in their hand," I couldn't help but to quietly giggle at the images I remembered. And exactly after saying that, Mike got hit by a huge snowball in the neck. Behind him Eric was on his way away from the cafeteria. Mike noticed this too, and quickly made a snowball himself.

"I'm out of here," I told Mike. "Me and snowball fights are no great cocktail." _Even though I'm sure I could beat you in one._

Nicole giggled. "At least not anymore," she added. We then walked into the warm cafeteria.

Out of habit I looked at the Cullen-table. A part of me still needed reassurance about that Edward Cullen really had dropped out of school.

There were sitting five people at the table.

My heart flew up in my throat. It was exactly like I had feared – he was back, to get his revenge over me. _But he started it!_ The voice in my head almost screamed.

"Michelle, are you alright?" Nicole asked me worried. I hadn't noticed that I had stopped.

"What's wrong with Michelle?" I heard Mike say. He had arrived too now.

"I'm fine," I just answered. "I... Um... just remembered that I forgot my money at home." I actually hadn't, but I didn't want to tell the actual reason behind me suddenly stopping.

Nicole had already bought a vegetarian sandwich for me, before Mike managed to ask if he could buy me anything. "You don't need to. I've already taken care of it," she said to him, and quickly pulled me with her to the usual table. On our way over there she whispered, "You owe me five bucks. I saw you pack your purse this morning. What's _really_ wrong?"

I flushed and looked down at my feet. I secretly hoped that she had forgotten about Edward's and my evil stares towards each other. We sat down, and I saw her look at the Cullen's. "It's your problem to solve, not mine," she shrugged. "I'm going to keep out of it," she seemed to think about something for a minute. "But please keep it safe, will you?"

I looked bewildered at her but she didn't say more on the subject.

I almost got a shock when Mike was about to sit down on the right side of me. But Jessica was quicker. I guessed she wanted to sit next to him. And it actually annoyed me a little that Mike had to constantly be near me. As conversation started forming around the table, I made sure that no one would notice me looking at the Cullen's. I really didn't want to get caught in that.

When I finally could look at them, they were in the middle of an indoor snowball fight. The muscular Emmet was shaking his curly hair to make the girls wet. I couldn't stop myself from smiling. They looked so happy. The girl Alice, then threw a snowball on Emmet, and used her tray as a shield. It all looked so normal, so human. And yet it didn't. They mostly looked like a bunch of movie stars shooting a scene.

_Strange, I haven't noticed that before._

In that moment Edward looked towards me. I looked down at the ground instantly. My cheeks turned tomato red. He hadn't been glaring at me at all. He had had that curious, almost craving stare again.

I looked down at my sandwich and started eating. My ears didn't catch a word of the conversation at my own table. All I could think about were my red cheeks and that I shouldn't look at _his _table again.

"Edward Cullen is starring at you," I suddenly heard Jessica giggle. It sounded halfheartedly to me.

"Does he look angry?" I asked her nervously. I still didn't dare to look at him, fearing his angry stares.

The mighty lion had turned into a scaredycat. How ironic.

"No, is he supposed to?" she sounded confused.

Now Nicole interrupted, "He's almost looking... curiously at you."

Her statement made me look up immediately. I met his gaze and Nicole had been right, he did look curious about something. Was he trying to find my weaknesses? Something he could use against me?

He suddenly looked offended, but then shook his head and smiled crookedly – probably at himself, since he wasn't looking at me. When he looked at me again he looked curious. I felt how I lightly blushed and looked away again.

All the way through lunch I caught myself in trying to look at him and his table. And every time I looked, Edwards gaze still rested on me. As I looked at my wrist watch and discovered that Biology was ten minutes away, my stomach suddenly started feeling funny. I knew that I had eaten too little, but there were only two hours until I could eat something again. I told Nicole goodbye, and Mike got up to follow me to Biology.

_The loyal Golden Retriever _was the only thing I could think, all the way to class.

I sat down and took out my notebook. I tried to write something down, something that I could use in my story, but I was far too nervous to write anything. Instead I started drawing eyes, which I was pretty bad at. I couldn't draw – only if I was lucky my drawing would actually get very pretty.

As I heard the chair beside me move I didn't look up from my paper. But the eyeball I was drawing turned out more curved than I had intended. I sighed and started to erase it.

"Hi," a musical voice next to me suddenly said.

I looked surprised up. Was _he_ talking to _me_? I almost gulped but he then continued, "My name is Edward Cullen. I didn't have the chance to introduce myself last week. You're Michelle Fairytale, right?" his face was friendly and open, a slight smile was visible on his mouth. Yet his eyes seemed cautious – as if an accident was going to happen any second. _Strange..._

I had been quiet for quite a bit and felt how my mouth was hanging open. I shut it, and thought about what I could possibly answer this absolutely gorgeous-looking boy. I knew I had to say something, it would be rude to just ignore him. I just couldn't get any sound out of my mouth.

"Y-yeah," I cleared my throat. "Um... who told you my name?" I nervously said, before I remembered that they all knew each other here. I was new and therefore they knew who I was.

Edward laughed a quiet and musical laughter before saying, "I think everyone knows who you are. Especially after your little performance two weeks ago." he was smiling a most attractive crooked smile. I almost forgot that I was in a class – and not somewhere alone with him. I blushed, but still managed to move my eyes to the ceiling and sigh. I hated to sing in public – if there wasn't a reason behind it. And if I was pushed to do it.

"It was hardly a performance. I was kind of forced to do it," I laughed humorlessly.

"But it sounded very lovely," he sounded as if he meant it. I looked at him again, and his eyes looked even more curious.

_Yeah right. It sounded like I hadn't ever sung in my life before. _I thought. "Thank you," I embarrassingly managed to say. And then Mr. Banner started the lesson.

We had to identify what phases of mitosis the different microscopic pictures were. This was going to be easy. I had already gone through that too last year. Only I had never had a quiz like this before.

"Ladies first?" Edward asked me. I was still a little surprised by his politeness, but that didn't mean that I had to show it.

"Okay," I answered. I shortly glanced through the microscope and smiled. This was definitely going to be easy. "Anaphase," I said and wrote it down on my paper. I was about to remove the slice, when Edward asked, "Do you mind if I check, partner?" he was smiling that irresistible crooked smile again. It made the hair rise on the back of my neck. And that in a good way.

I had almost forgotten what he had asked about but handed him the microscope. There was no need to seem slow or stupid. He took it and looked through it for even a shorter time than I had. "Anaphase," he agreed. I proudly smiled.

"Like I said," I couldn't help myself from feeling a little smarter than the others. They looked like they had a hard time doing the test. Poor them, it wasn't that hard.

Edward put slice number two in the microscope and looked. "Interphase," he wrote it on his paper. His penmanship was very handsome. It reminded me of my father's, only Edward's was much prettier.

"You mind if I check?" I didn't really trust his answer. Handsome people normally weren't all smart; even though I was sure Edward didn't belong under the category "stupid". He was a straight-A student. Or at least that was what Nicole had told me.

He handed me the microscope and I briefly looked through. I tried to hold back a grimace. Dang! He was right. I wrote it down on my sheet of paper and asked for the third slice. He gave it to me and his fingers touched my palm for less than a second. They were as cold as ice. I almost dropped the slice, as I pulled back my hand. And it hadn't been because of his cold touch that my hand had flown back – it had almost felt like an electric shock wave had gone through us in that moment.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. I looked at his shocked expression. He had pulled his hand away as quickly as mine. Had I given him a shock too?

"It's okay," I answered. I had almost forgotten that he had been cruel to me last week.

I put the third slice in the microscope, but I felt my hand cramp a little. I had never gotten a shock that strong before, as when his cold fingers had touched mine. Did he hide some kind of electrical device under his shirt?

"Prophase," I said and handed him the microscope. While he looked through it I wrote it down.

We were done before anyone else, and I began to draw again. Though it was very hard, knowing that I wanted to look at Edward. And it was very stupid of me.

_Stop it!_ I had a very hard time concentrating, and I had no idea why.

I suddenly heard Edward sigh and looked up. "It stopped snowing," he said.

I looked out the window and grimaced. I had forgotten my raincoat at Nicole's. Now I was sure to be soaking wet before Gym.

"Edward don't you think Michelle should get a chance with the microscope?" Mr. Banner asked. He was suddenly standing in front of our table.

"She actually identified four of the five," Edward answered.

"Have you tried this lab before?" Mr. Banner now asked me.

"No actually not. But I've had about mitosis and cellular anatomy in Denmark," I tried not to sound too proud about this. But I was smarter than most of the other kids in here. Well, except Edward of course.

"Well then it's good you two are partners," he said. "Then the others might actually learn something," he mumbled while walking towards his own desk.

I had always had very good hearing, despite the fact that I had very small ears, but what Mr. Banner said shocked me. _What an idiot,_ my only thought was.

"So, have you gotten used to the weather in Forks yet?" Edward suddenly asked me. I couldn't help but to look surprised – I had totally forgotten that he was sitting next to me.

"You're asking me about the weather?" Was he trying to small talk with me?

"Yeah, I guess I am," he shrugged and looked away. He looked kind of embarrassed.

"As long as I'm not getting soaking wet and catching a cold, I think I'll be fine," I answered to his question. Then I looked down at my notebook and began to draw again.

"You're not too fond of water, are you?" it sounded more like a statement than a question.

I made a face. Water was my element, but I wasn't a very good swimmer. And I hated getting soaking wet for that matter. "I just don't like getting soaked," my voice was indifferent, but as I looked up at him, I was sure that my eyes revealed how much I actually hated the fact. I just hoped he wouldn't ask more about it. No need to add that I wasn't a good swimmer.

"Then Forks is not going to be your favorite place," he sounded as if he forced himself to say something. I wanted to tell him that he didn't need to talk to me if he didn't want to. But I didn't want to force him into anything either.

"As long as it's not getting -30 degrees, I think I'll survive," I hadn't meant it sarcastically but my voice suddenly sounded that way.

Edward laughed and I couldn't help but to laugh with him. His musical laughter made me smile again. _This is _so_ strange... _His laughter was contagious; I had never experienced anything like it before.

"But it _is_ kind of sad about the snow," I said, before I had time to think about what came out of my mouth.

"Why?" he asked with interest. He probably wondered why I liked snow – which was frozen _water. _I laughed.

"Snow is beautiful if you look at it. And find it in the right places – like in nature. Not the dirty snow in the city," I looked out the window for a second, and remembered Mikes little snowball fight earlier. "But as soon as people start throwing snowball fights I'm usually out of there. I've gotten a little too many snowballs thrown in the face," I added and laughed without any sign of it being funny. "And if you don't watch out you can get soaking wet."

Edward looked like someone who was listening to an interesting lecture rather than to my boring comments and opinions. "It must be very strange to suddenly move away from the sun."

Why did he suddenly change subject? I looked up at him again. How could he know that? Or, he could only guess. I shortly looked at my arm. I _was_ a little tanned. _Closer to a_ very _pale-brown that can't even be seen_. _An almost unnoticeable brown._

"Not really. Or..." I bit my lower lip – something I hadn't done since I was a little girl – It was very hard to find the right words. His golden eyes were very distracting. I took a deep breath and started again, "I've been on vacation in Austria, so I guess that's why it's a bit difficult. But there are about 200 rainy days in Denmark, so the sun doesn't shine there as often as in Austria."

"Why Austria?" he seemed curios about the most insignificant things about me. It was kind of fascinating but also very irritating. "I'm half Austrian. My dad comes from Austria. So my family and I always stay there about three weeks every summer. We live in my dad's house there." I looked down again to draw. He could impossibly want to know anymore.

"You're mother's Danish?" he asked curiously.

_At least he didn't ask "You speak fluid German?" just like everyone else would. _"Yeah. Pure-blooded and everything," I joked, even though my tone didn't indicate this.

"Then what are you doing in America, when you could go to school in Denmark?" he didn't sound like he wished me back to Denmark again. It was more like he was trying to find out as much as possible about me. Why was he so curious?

_Maybe his curiosity exceeds yours,_ a sarcastic voice in my head told me. "I won a singing competition," I sighed.

"I guess it wasn't voluntarily," he stated. And I sighed again.

"No actually not. I was singing a solo in a choir, and the next thing I know is that I'm surrounded by American talent scouts," I sighed again. I was going to miss one year of the Danish High School to learn something over here that I had already learned.

"And you would wish you weren't here," again a statement.

No, no no! How could he even think that? I liked being here! I had even dreamt about it since I was a little girl. It was just that I would have rather wanted it to have been in my freshman year than in my sophomore. "No, I like it here," I answered before he could draw his own conclusions by my facial expression. "I just rather would have traveled last year than this year," I blushed and looked at my hands. Why was I telling this to a complete stranger? And then I sighed.

"What?" he asked me. I looked up to see him with a puzzled expression. What more would he want to know?

"I just thought that I wouldn't have had the chance to travel last year," I sighed again.

"Why?" would that guy never stop questioning me?

"There was no singing competition before last year. So I would never have had the chance to win," I grimaced. _Stupid fear of singing in public. _He laughed his musical laughter.

"What?" I confronted him.

"Why do you hate singing in public so much? I always thought that people with beautiful voices liked to sing to others," he looked like the thought amused him.

"Where should I know? I just don't like it," I had the biggest urge to just turn away from him – or stick out my tongue. Instead I just made a face and looked out the window beside him. It was raining even more now than before, and I felt how I turned from irritated to depressed. I didn't want to use my hairdryer at Nicole's – I wanted to spare the environment as much as I could. But I still hated being soaking wet.

"Why didn't you bring your family?" he suddenly asked. And he hit a sore spot. I wanted to get away from my family, not bring them with me. I wouldn't be able to take one of my father's outbursts if he was here too.

"Why are you actually so interested in knowing that?" I heard how my voice turned angry, without me being able to control it.

"_That_ is a very good question," he mumbled, mostly to himself I guessed.

I looked at the blackboard. Edward was beginning to annoy me with his questions. Why was he so interested in my dull life story? I could as well tell him about my sad love life if he continued like this.

"Am I annoying you?" he sounded like he had just heard some kind of funny joke.

How did he know that I was annoyed with him? Was he a mind reader or something? But I guessed it shined out pretty clearly from my face.

I looked at him, and said something without thinking it through. "Yeah you are," but then I sighed. How come I was so easy to read when he asked me all those things? _Maybe it's because you blabber before you think it through, my friend._

"Why am I annoying you?" he asked, still seeming cheerful after some kind of joke.

_So many why-questions. He might as well ask me why mankind exists. And I'm no great philosopher. _There he'd have to ask my dad. "Because I tend to be easy to read after people get to know me," I lied. I didn't want to seem rude by telling him that his questions were bothering me.

"On the contrary. I think you're very difficult to read," Edward answered on that. "You're very unpredictable," he sounded like he meant it.

"You must be a very good reader then," _I wish you luck in_ _finding out my personality._

"Normally," he smiled and showed a pair of crystal white teeth.

Then Mr. Banner asked for attention and started going through the results. I carefully looked at Edward, but he had moved his chair as far away from me as the table allowed – just like last Monday. His fists were clenched, as if he was trying very hard on not doing something. And his nose wrinkled.

I grabbed a lock of my hair and smelled it. It smelled like my lemon shampoo, which actually smelled pretty good – but I was hoping I could buy one that smelled like strawberry soon – so it couldn't be me who smelled bad.

I tried to listen to Mr. Banner through the rest of the hour, but I couldn't. The fact that Edward was acting like he had done last week, irritated me. Had he only talked to me to get to know my weak sides? I heard the bell then, and Edward rushed out, just as fast and gracefully as last week. And I looked thoughtfully after him again. How did he move so fast?

_Another problem that physics can't solve,_ I thought in my father's voice and added: _Science is the last step of mistake,_ and internally laughed.

"That was absolutely awful!" Mike walked over to me and said. "You were lucky to be with Cullen."

Something inside of me got angry at Mikes tone. I wanted to tell him to shut up and mind his own business. Was it because Edward wasn't accepted that I wanted to protect him? Like the strong protect the weak? Or did I want to be the _only_ one who got revenge over him?

"It wasn't _that_ hard," I answered Mike. "I've had about mitosis before," I couldn't hide that I was a little proud about it. I knew that I was smart, but I normally boastful about it.

_So diplomatic Michelle._

"Oh. Okay," we started walking out of the building. "Cullen was in an okay mood today," Mike suddenly said. He sounded like he didn't really like Edward. Had I missed something?

I felt the strong urge to protect Edward again. _It must be because you want your revenge against him – yourself._

"Yeah. I guess he _had_ a crappy day last Monday," I deliberately made my voice sound indifferent, and Mike was happy again.

_A Golden Retriever,_ I though before walking into the girl's locker room.


	7. Chapter 6: Victim

**6. Victim**

I felt how sleep slowly faded and I gradually woke up. This was the first time I had ever experienced something like that. Something had woken me up, and it hadn't been my alarm clock. I opened my eyes and saw that the light in my room was somehow different. Carefully I pushed my blanket off and walked towards the window. In one move I pushed the curtains aside. My eyes widened, like when a child saw a new toy.

There was snow outside the window.

I smiled, but remembered that it was colder here than in Denmark. Yet I couldn't stop admiring the untouched snow, it wasn't something you got to see every day in Copenhagen. Snow was beautiful, but you had to be careful not to get wet.

I shortly glanced at my alarm clock and saw that it was half past six. I could as well shower before eating breakfast. As I a while later walked out of the bathroom Nicole came out of her room. "You look rested today," she told me. I smiled at her.

"Well I went to bed early, unlike somebody," I teased. Nicole was an evening person like me, but I could feel that I was turning into a morning person by living here. It was very strange.

She laughed and went into the bathroom to get ready for school. I went downstairs and found a note on the fridge.

_We both had to work early, so you have to make breakfast yourselves..._

_There are eggs in the fridge and apples on the counter._

_Have a nice day both of you._

_Judith & Eric  
_

I giggled at the message. It was mostly meant for Nicole, so I hung it up on the fridge again – as if I hadn't seen it.

I went to the counter and grabbed an apple. Then I took my phone and wrote a message. It would be too expensive to call my parents every time.

_Good morning. I'm going to school soon. Calling tonight._

_Yours Michelle  
_

Nicole showed up right then and looked at the fridge. Then she groaned. "Have you seen it? My mom's just too much some times," she showed me the note. I nonchalantly looked at it.

"I think it's kind of cute you know," I teased her. I would love to have my mother write me notes like that. But I didn't want to tell Nicole. That would be too embarrassing.

"Michelle, don't," she begged.

"Okay, I'll stop," but I couldn't help myself from snickering. It wasn't actually funny but somehow the whole situation was.

As we sat in the car I felt how my stomach began to twist. I was getting exited, and I knew exactly why. I was going to see Edward Cullen at school. And it was very stupid of me to think so.

_No boys Michelle! Didn't you promise?_ I sighed.

"How was Biology actually yesterday?" Nicole asked me, smiling. _Good grace!_ Mike had probably been talking to her.

"It was okay. I have had about mitosis before. It was quite easy," I answered.

Nicole looked trivially out of the windshield. But she knew, that I knew, that this wasn't what she wanted to hear. It was about my little "chit-chat" with Edward Cullen. And since I didn't say anything Nicole took matters into her own hands. "I heard that Edward Cullen was talking to you. And not just one word or a sentence like he does with others," she doltishly smiled.

_That girl always surprises, _I thought resigned. "He just asked if I liked it here in Forks."

"Okay," she was still smiling that goofy smile.

"Don't even think about talking to anybody about it. Not even Edward Cullen," my stomach twisted even more as I said his name, but luckily Nicole couldn't hear. _Stop that! _I screamed at myself. "You promised something. Remember?" I told her and she sighed.

I knew she wanted me to be happy, but there was _no way_ I was going to risk my heart getting broken again. It would painfully, and slowly, kill me. I knew that.

One more time, and I'd surely die.

We reached school a little later than we had anticipated, but the roads were slippery so Nicole had to drive extra carefully. As we both got out of the car, I noticed Edward standing by his Volvo, at least 4 cars away, starring at me. His sister Alice was standing next to him.

I stared back at him, letting him know that I had caught him looking at me. But he didn't look away from me. That guy was the strangest person – boy – I had ever stumbled across. Boys themselves were strange, but Edward was even more cryptic. And it fascinated me more than it should. I knew why it fascinated me. It was because I was an extremely curious person. But in this case I was even more curious than normal. It was like I was drawn towards him – like my heart somehow felt the desire to know him better. It wanted him to smile, to laugh. It wanted him to be happy.

Sigh. I was a _too_ gentile person.

But I knew better than trying to do that. I had to listen to my brain and not my heart. The brain was more rational, less capable of dreaming and making mistakes – and still, I needed to dream. I _wanted _to dream – to be able to let the feelings in my heart flow – or else I would surely end up on the street somewhere, crying because I was so unhappy. I sighed.

Suddenly Edward's stare became horrified and he looked past me. Right then I heard a high-pitched screech of tires against ice. I felt how fear washed through me, while I slowly turned around.

A blue car was on its way towards me.

I didn't think that I had the time to close my eyes before the car was going to hit me. I didn't see my life flash before my eyes as I had been told it would. The only thing I could do was staring at the car coming towards me.

I quickly thought of my family. I loved them more than anything on earth, and now I was going to die because I had left them.

Just before the car hit me, I felt a moment's peace. I knew this would kill me, but I had somehow wanted to die, get rid of the aching pain in my heart. And now God was kind to me and let me have my wish.

I slowly closed my eyes and breathed in heavily. All my troubles would soon be over.

And then my head was suddenly lying on the ice. I heard the noise it made, yet I couldn't feel the pain. The only thing I noticed was that I had abruptly moved away from the blue car.

_But how is that possible? I didn't move at all!_

When the car bumped into the edge of Nicole's blue Citroen, it once again moved towards me. As if I was a magnet pulling it towards me. _There's your bad luck, _I couldn't help myself from thinking. It was then that I noticed somebody pulling me away from the moving car. I saw Edward Cullen sit between me and the toward coming van.

"Are you crazy? Move!" my voice was no more than a whisper, like in those dreams were you try to scream – but you can't, and in that moment the van bumped into his shoulder and rose above the ground. It was about to hit my legs, but Edward held up the car, pulled out my legs and let it go.

Then there was only silence.

And then hell broke loose.

"Michelle! Oh my God Michelle!" It wasn't hard to hear Nicole's terrified voice above the others. Her voice was so familiar.

"Someone call 911!"

"Tyler is still in the van!"

I didn't really listen to the voices. The only thing I really could think about was that I was still alive. It was like a guardian angel had just protected me from dying. My thoughts immediately flickered to my childhood friend: Emma. We had been best friends until she had died of a brain hemorrhage when she was nine and I was ten. Since then I had thought of her as my guardian angel, because every time something bad happened to me, I had felt her presence – how she told me it was going to be okay. I had even seen her in a dream. She had told me what heaven was like, but it had just been a dream.

"Are you all right Michelle?" Edward brought me back to reality, and I noticed that he securely held me, my body leaning against his.

I almost felt how the hair on my neck rose in a good way again. "I'm fine," I told him and tried to get out of his iron grip. But he didn't let go.

"I think you should take it slow. You hit your head pretty hard."

I remembered hitting the ice, and suddenly I felt the thumping on the back of my head. "Ouch," I said and moved my hand to where it hurt. The pain was a little worse than a normal headache, but every other part of me felt perfectly fine.

Edward quietly laughed and said, "Like I told you," before he let go of me and moved as far away as the limited space allowed. Why was he being like that again?

It suddenly made me remember what had actually happened. How had he even saved me? He hadn't been standing close to me as the car was going to hit me. In fact, he had seen the car coming towards me – four cars away from me.

"How did you even get over here so fast? You were standing by your car."

His expression changed but only for the fraction of a second. After that it looked like he had put on some kind of mask. "I was standing right next to you," he sounded convincing, but I knew that I wasn't making this up. He would never be standing next to me. I knew he had something against me, I just didn't know what. And foes didn't stand next to each other. I knew that.

"No you weren't! I saw you!" I felt how my stubbornness showed itself. I only used to be stubborn towards my family. But Edward Cullen was somehow a master in pulling out all my worst qualities.

"Michelle I was standing right next to you, pulling you away from the car," his eyes were almost gleaming. I guessed he was using his full 'powers' to convince me. But I wasn't stupid.

"No you weren't. You were standing by your car looking at me," my voice was as stubborn as a child's, and Edward suddenly looked away from me. Was he embarrassed that I had noticed him starring at me?

But as fast as he had looked away he was looking at me again. "Michelle, please," his eyes were as intense as I had never seen them.

"Why?" I stubbornly asked, but my voice hadn't been as harsh as I intended.

"Just trust me," his voice was even softer than silk.

I was about to give in and say yes, but I knew I needed an explanation from him – and a good one. "Will you promise to explain what happened?" I made my voice friendly to show that I trusted him – Well partly.

"Fine," he looked angry again. And that me me angry.

"Fine," I answered just as bitter.

I heard the sirens of an ambulance and the one of a police car. There were voices around us, but I didn't really notice them. I was balefully looking at Edward, who didn't look anywhere in particular.

_Chicken,_ I thought and then he stared angrily back. We glared at each other until the blue van finally was moved enough to let the EMT's through to us with the stretchers. Edward somehow managed to sneak out of being carried, by telling that his dad would take care of him. I could only glare at him.

_Traitor, _was my only thought, and suddenly Edward looked at me as if he had just heard some kind of joke. I shook my head, and was about to tell the EMT that I was all right too, when Edward mentioned that I had hit my head. I wanted to insult him, but I could only glare. My anger had made me mute.

The EMT made me wear a neck brace, and I blushed. I looked like hell with it on. When I could finally get out of the small space, and walk over to the ambulance, I noticed that most of the school was starring at the scene.

I sighed. Human nature – whenever there was an accident, people would come and look. It was a natural reaction. Yet it still irritated me. This was exactly the attention I didn't want to have.

On my way to the ambulance, I was suddenly confronted by the police. "Hey! Are you the victim?" the officer asked me in a deep voice.

I mostly wanted to say that Edward was actually the victim. He was the one who had gotten a van in the shoulder. But I kept to Edward's version. I was going to find out what had _really_ happened – sooner or later. So I just nodded instead of answering. I had no idea how my voice sounded while I was wearing a neck brace.

"Do you remember anything that happened? Are there any clouded parts?"

"I remember what happened," I quickly said. "Edward Cullen pulled me away. And then the car was suddenly around us." I didn't know how credible it sounded, but I had always been a good liar.

"Okay," the officer wrote my statement down in a little notebook. "Do you remember which direction the van came from?"

I pointed towards the entrance of the school. It had been there I had first seen the car as I had looked up after hearing the screeching tires.

"Thanks. If you remember anything else call this number," he wrote a number on a page in his notebook and gave it to me. Then he disappeared, to ask witnesses I guessed.

I looked at the sheet of paper he had given me, and noticed his name as Police chief Charlie Swan. I put the paper in my pocket. He shouldn't be expecting a call from me. Unless he wanted to hear an absolutely impossible story. _But yet a true story,_ a voice in my head added.

The EMT''s made me lie on the stretcher inside of the ambulance, while Edward got to sit on the front seat. A car had hit him in the shoulder, and still he was sitting in the front!

Before the ambulance doors closed, I noticed that Edward's shoulder had left a dent in the van, which was about to be pulled away. _Hmm..._

I felt like Nancy Drew in that moment. There was something about Edward and I was going to find out what. If he was willing to help or not. This suddenly made me exited. I had never thought that I was ever going to experience anything supernatural in my life – I had always thought that such things could only happen in movies or books.

But now it was suddenly me trapped inside such an adventure...

At the hospital a lot of things happened. I was driven to many different places, before they finally decided to leave me in an emergency room. I felt how my head was beginning to really hurt, but I swallowed the pain.

_If your dad can live 20 years with never-ending pain, and without screaming, then you can live with a little headache for some time,_ I thought.

After that thought I saw the nurses drive in with Tyler Crowley. He looked much worse than I felt – his face and half of his body was covered in bandages.

"Michelle, I'm so sorry!" he started to say.

"I'm fine Tyler. I have a small headache, but it's nothing," I bit my lower lip of looking at him. He looked terrible.

"I thought I was going to run you over! I was driving too fast and I hit the ice all wrong," he clearly ignored my reassurance.

"Tyler, really, I'm fine. You missed me."

"How did you get out of the way so fast? One moment you were there, then you were gone," he winced in pain as one of the nurses started disinfecting his wounds.

"Edward Cullen pulled me out of the way. He was standing next to me," for some reason it didn't sound convincing at all. I had always been a good liar, but it was suddenly very hard to lie right now. I guessed it was because even I didn't believe it to be true.

"Cullen? I didn't even see him, but I guess it all went so fast..." he blabbered on.

How could he really not have noticed that Edward _hadn't _been standing next to me? And suddenly it hit me. I noticed Edward more than others. They normally ignored him, while I had been fascinated by his mystical creature.

_You promised, _the voice in my head was begging, sad and commanding at the same time.

A nurse came in and drove me to X-ray my head – and literally every other part of me. And, like I had repeatedly told them, nothing was wrong with me at all. I only had a concussion, but it wasn't anything serious.

_Your first concussion. Make a wish, _I sarcastically thought, and internally laughed at my private joke, while the nurse drove me back to Tyler in the emergency room. He started all over with apologizing, so I decided to close my eyes. He was starting to get on my nerves. I would have loved to tell him, but that was against my nature.

After some time I started to relax and was about to fall asleep, when a musical voice broke the silence.

"Is she sleeping?"

My eyes flew open and I was looking directly at a smiling Edward.

"Edward, I'm really sorry man––" Tyler started, but Edward lifted his hand to stop him, before he could go on with his apologies.

"No blood, no foul," he looked like he had just heard a funny joke. It was irresistibly strange...

He sat down on the edge of Tyler's bed and faced towards me. I suddenly noticed that I was still wearing the neck brace. I quickly removed it and blushed a little.

"What's the verdict?" Edward was still smirking.

"There's nothing wrong with me. I'm only waiting for permission to leave," I looked at Edward as naturally as I could. But it would have been more naturally to ogle – which wasn't good at all. I looked down and sighed.

Edward chuckled and I immediately looked up again. "How come you're not lying in a bed like the rest of us?" It made me angry that he got spared, when it was him who had worse injuries than me. Or, it had at least looked like that.

"It's all about who you know," he answered and showed his flashing white teeth.

"Mmm," I just answered, and tried to look anywhere but at him.

"But don't worry. I've come to spring you," And as he said that, a tall blond man came into the room. He was just as pale as Edward, and had the same golden eyes. And he was just as gorgeous as any of the Cullen's.

_How can they not be related? They even have the same eye-color! T_his was something I too had to ask Edward about later.

"Well, Miss Fairytale," Doctor Cullen said in a just as musical voice as Edward's "How's the head?"

How could they not be related?

"I'm fine, really."

Dr. Cullen walked towards the wall beside me, and put up some X-rays. "Your X-rays look good, so I would say you're free to go. I just need to make a final check. You never know what you'll find," he smiled friendly at me and I couldn't help but to smile friendly back at him. It was like his smile made me trust him.

But I did object a little. "I'm perfectly fine, really," it was embarrassing enough that I was the one being cared for, when it was clearly Tyler who needed most attention.

Dr. Cullen carefully touched my head and I felt his cold hands. Another thing that made me doubt how this couldn't be Edward's real father. To have that many things in common, and not be related was impossible.

While he was examining the back of my head, I suddenly grimaced.

"Sore?" he friendly asked me.

"No, it's fine," I lied. He had found the source of my headache, but I had had worse. _If you call a broken wrist worse, _my sarcastic voice added.

"Your hosting family is waiting in the waiting room. You're free to go if you want," Dr. Cullen said with a friendly voice. "But come back if you feel dizzy or have any trouble with your eyesight at all."

I quickly got up, but regretted it instantly. The room started spinning and twirling and I was afraid, that I was going to pass out. My hands moved to my head, as my knees started to tremble. Luckily Edwards father caught me before I got anywhere near the floor. Right then the dizziness disappeared.

"Maybe you should take it slow and stay home today," Dr. Cullen sounded both friendly and concerned – the perfect doctor. "If it hurts, take some tylenol for the pain."

"Shouldn't Edward take it slow too?" I shot an annoyed glance at Edward who smirked at me. His answer would undoubtedly irritate me.

"Someone has to spread the news that we survived," he was still smirking.

"I don't think you have to spread the news at school. Most of it seems to be sitting in the waiting room," Dr. Cullen looked nonchalant at his papers.

My eyes widened. _Witnesses. _I almost groaned, but remembered my headache, and made a face instead.

"You can stay here if you want," Dr. Cullen offered.

"No, no. I'm fine." _Being in a hospital or lying at home in a cozy bed? Hmm... I think I chose the bed. _I had bad experience with hospitals. Once I had had to wait 8 hours to get my broken wrist done. And afterwards I had to wait twelve hours until I could go home. _Not exactly what I call great hospital service. _But I was sure Edward's father was nowhere near this category. He was a perfect doctor.

"Well, I must say you have been miraculously lucky today," the doctor said.

"I wouldn't have been so lucky, if Edward hadn't been standing next to me and pulled me out of the way," it sounded like some kind of line from a play, but at least my ability to lie was coming back.

"Yes indeed," he answered and suddenly got very interested in his papers. The Doctor knew something; there was no doubt about it. _Nancy Drew has a case. _If the mood hadn't been so serious, I would have laughed out loud at my little joke.

Edward's father turned to Tyler and I walked over to Edward. Now was a good time to see if I could get any answers. "Can I borrow you for a minute?" I asked him, being friendly and polite at the same time.

His expression turned hard and his jaw clenched. "Your hosting family is waiting for you," he said through his teeth.

I glared at him, but he walked out of the room. I followed him and after a couple of corners, he turned around to look at me crueler, than I had ever imagined was possible for anyone. My voice disappeared for a moment, and I could feel the goose bumps on my arms. When I could finally say something again, I stubbornly said, "You owe me an explanation."

"I don't owe you anything. I saved your life," his voice was as hard as his eyes. And that got the anger boiling in me.

"Yes you do! I saw you standing by your car, watching the van come towards me! And somehow you managed to pull me away –– and then the car hit your shoulder and lifted off the ground, and it was going to hit my legs –– but you carried it and pulled out my legs! And you're not hurt at all!" I felt how the anger boiled inside of me. I almost screamed in fury after an explanation.

His expression was still hard, but his eyes were protective. "You think I lifted a van off you?" he mistrustfully asked. But I could hear the lie behind it.

"I know what I saw!"

"Nobody's going to believe you, you know," his voice was almost a snort.

"As if I was going to tell anybody!" _They wouldn't believe me if I did._

His face suddenly softened and he turned surprised "Then why does it matter?" his voice didn't fit his expression at all.

"It matters to me. I hate to lie without a reason!" Okay, that wasn't entirely true – but in this case it was. I had witnessed something amazing, and unexplainable, but I wanted an explanation before I started 'blabbering' about what had happened.

"Can't you just thank me and let it go?"

I looked fuming and expectant at him. He could get his "Thanks", when he had explained how he had saved me.

"You're not going to let this go, are you?" his voice was as hard as a rock. If I hadn't been as angry as I was, I would surely have been scared to death.

"No."

"In that case – I hope you enjoy disappointment." he turned around and started walking away.

"Thank you!" I rigidly yelled after him. I wanted him to know that I wasn't going to forget this. That guy was not a mystery – he was a puzzle. A very annoying one that didn't fit together at all.

I walked down to the waiting room and the next thing I saw was red hair in my eyes.

"My God Michelle! I thought you were dead!" Nicole's voice was full of tears. "What happened?" she pulled away and looked me in the eyes.

"Edward was standing next to me before the van came. And then he pushed me away," this time it sounded just right. But I felt the rage in me as I said _his _name.

"Remind me to thank him," she said to me, and her parents came over and hugged me. I noticed that Dr. Cullen had been right – most of the school seemed to be sitting in the small waiting room.

_Why are accidents so popular?_

As we got into Erik's Alfa Romeo, Judith told me something that almost made me groan. "We thought you were done for when Nicole called us. We immediately contacted your parents. They were about to fly over here to check on you, but then we told them you were fine. But you might want to call them before we get home."

I felt how my mood went from angry to despairing. I knew this wasn't going to be a very nice conversation.

When I finally got home, and had at least 20 times reassured my crying mother about that I was perfectly fine, I went into my room and threw myself on the bed. I didn't care if I was wearing a pajama or my normal clothes. I just wanted to sleep.

I quickly fell asleep, despite the fact that I was in pain, and dreamt that I was in a forest. It was kind of a strange forest, since it was made of skyscrapers. And I was somehow looking for something but I didn't know what it was. As I walked through the 'jungle' I felt more and more eyes staring at the back of my head. When it started to hurt I looked back and saw at least a dozen golden eyes staring at me.

I woke with a start. My head hurt so bad, that I could have screamed. I turned to the side, and noticed that I had been lying on the hard nose of one of my teddies.

Ouch.

I went out into Nicole's bathroom and found some painkillers. After that I got back to bed again. When I could finally sleep again, the first image of my dream appeared. It was Edward Cullen's perfect face and figure.

I felt how a displeased expression formed on my face, before I soundly fell asleep.


	8. Chapter 7: Absolutely Incredible!

**7. Absolutely Incredible!**

The rest of the week I _the__ center of attention at school_. Everyone asked about what had happened, and I answered them with Edward's version. I didn't like to lie about it, but it was better for everyone – especially myself – if they didn't believe me to be a lunatic. In the end they simply stopped asking about it.

I noticed that no one ever asked Edward about what had happened, and that confirmed a theory of mine. I noticed him more than I should.

But he didn't look at me anymore. Altogether, he ignored me.

I had even tried to be nice to him the day after the accident, but it hadn't been easy. I had walked into Biology with the decision to behave nicely towards Edward. Only my temper had been rising, when I entered the classroom. I had stiffly walked towards _our_ table and thrown the books – harder than intended – on the desk. Several heads had spun towards me but I had explained it as an accident – that the book had fallen out of my hands. Then I had turned to Edward and said, "Hi". I wanted to be on friendly terms with him – maybe that was what would bring him to talk.

But he had only moved his head and inch towards me and nodded. He had carefully tried not to look at me.

After that we didn't talk at all.

He ignored me and I ignored him. Still, Nancy Drew was working her hardest to solve this case, and I noticed more about him than I had before. Sometimes his head would move towards me in Biology, or one of his clenched fists would ball up. I even noticed that his golden eyes grew darker and darker every day, until they were fully black – and then returned to golden a couple of days later.

But I never told anybody.

Nicole didn't ask about anything either. She had been extremely shaken about my almost death accident – more than I was myself. She hadn't even noticed the coldness between me and Edward. And she didn't ask about it either.

Tyler too, changed after the accident. He started to follow my every step, trying to make up for almost killing me. And every time I assured him that all he had to do was to forget it.

_The last thing I need is another puppy._

Actually Mike, Eric and Tyler were getting on my nerves. They always talked to me, tried to help and were overly friendly. I swear it was like having puppies in strings. Once, Eric even opened a door for me.

_As if I can't open a door myself._

American curtsey. I never really got the concept behind opening the door for a girl or woman. She could open it herself if she wanted.

A couple of months went by, November moving closer and closer. I was getting used to living in Forks, my parents were less concerned and I felt how I turned more and more depressed. My usual sick-after-love-in-the-end-of-fall-depression. And I knew the cause behind it...

Nicole had long gotten over the accident, and she started getting more and more suspicious. One day she even asked me, "Is something wrong? You look so... sad."

I had just smiled at her, saying I was a little homesick – nothing serious. _As if I've ever been that, _I had thought. I had never been homesick in my entire life.

And in the middle of October there started to appear posters all over school, announcing the Fall Dance on the 13th of November.

I sighed and thought, _A__nother party I'm not going to._

I felt how Nicole's mood rose at the news. "And boys remember: This dance is girl's choice," she read.

Suddenly my mood got all better too. If this dance was girl's choice, I was saved. I didn't need to say no to anybody, and I didn't need to ask someone.

"What are you smirkin' at?" Nicole's curious voice brought me back to the hallway.

"I think I finally found a time for my brother to come visiting," My smile was wide.

"But the dance is on your birthday! You're going right?" the last almost sounded like a plea.

"No. I think it's best if I don't go. I haven't been to a party since May," I answered her. "And besides – I can't dance."

"Michelle you seriously need some fun in your life! Especially on your birthday! And _besides,_"she teased, "you've danced ballet for the last six years of your life."

I shook my head. "I _don't_ think they're planning on dancing ballet at the dance."

Nicole wouldn't understand this, even if I tried to explain it to her. Parties were always the course for love, which I was trying to avoid. That and I wanted to be alone on my birthday.

It wasn't that complex, when you thought about it. My birthday was the day I got older, yet wished I could be younger. I _longed_ to be a kid again – then I wouldn't have this many worries in my life.

Nicole gave up in trying in convincing me to go, and we went to our classes.

A couple of weeks later we were at home, both sitting in Nicole's room and starting on an English essay, when the phone rang. Nicole answered, since her parents weren't home yet.

"Evan's residence. You're speaking with Nicole."

"Hey Nicole, it's Jessica. Is Michelle there too?" I clearly heard Jessica's voice from the phone.

"Yeah, she's here. Do you want me to put you on speaker?"

"That would be great. I have something to ask both of you, anyway." Nicole pressed the speaker-button and Jessica's voice got even clearer. "You already got partners for the dance in two weeks?" she sounded extremely excited. I almost sighed. This was what I guessed to be a 'normal'teenage reaction to parties.

"No I'm still missing," Nicole nervously answered. She still had no idea who she wanted to go with.

"What about you Michelle?" Jessica sounded almost demanding.

"I'm not going," I answered her.

"Not? I thought you were taking Mike though. I mean it's your birthday and everything," she didn't sound too happy with the idea of me asking Mike – something I would _never_ consider.

"No, you go with him," I encouraged her.

"Really? It's not going to be weird for you?"

"No. Zero weirdness. You two look great together," I extra made my voice exited, to let her know that I meant it.

"I know, right?" she said, sounding even friendlier than before. "Are you sure you can't come?"

"Absolutely. I have to pick up my brother at the airport that day," I smoothly lied. Nicole looked surprised at me. She knew I had just lied, but I just wasn't in the mood of telling Jessica the truth. She would probably use it as gossip – and Nicole knew that very well. "You have fun with Mike," to myself I sounded overly optimistic, but Jessica seemed pleased and started to blabber about dresses for the dance. I excused myself and quietly went into my own room.

Jessica was Jessica – very material.

The next day she didn't even act friendly towards me, and I somehow had the feeling that Mike had turned her down. At lunch even _he_ acted embarrassed. He even looked at the floor when he walked me to Biology. As he sat down on my table – a habit he had gotten after my accident – he finally started talking.

"Jessica asked me to the dance," he was still looking at the floor.

"That's great! You two have fun," I smiled and played my role perfectly. I needed him to know that he _should _ask Jessica.

When he saw me smiling, he looked down at the table. "I told her I would think about it."

I reproachfully looked at him. "Why would you do that?" But at least he hadn't told her, no which made me relax a little.

All of his face turned bright red. "I was thinking that you might ask me."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Edward looking at me, but I ignored it. The only thing I could think was _Oh no! _I felt the urge to hide my face in my hands. Mike had thought that I liked him that way. _Sigh. If that poor boy only knew... My romantic life is over._

"Mike..." I began, but he cut me off.

"Did you already ask somebody?" Did Edward notice how Mike's eyes rested on him for a short moment?

"No, I haven't asked anybody. I'm not going to the dance at all," I told him very slowly, hoping he would understand.

"Why?" he asked.

I was very close to making a face because I had to lie about this. But I caught myself before I could do anything and said, "I'm picking up my little brother at the airport that day. And I'm not so sure that he would recognize Nicole's parents. It would be better if I were there with them."

"Can't he come some other time?" Mike's tone was angry, as if he blamed my brother for my absence at the dance.

I felt the biggest urge to just hit Mike in that moment, because he thought that way of my brother. No one insulted my baby-brother without my consent – which I rarely gave anyone.

Right then I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, that Edward Cullen suddenly smirked.

"No he can't. The ticket's already been bought," my voice was a little harder than I had intended.

Mike looked down again, and there was an embarrassing silence between us. I broke it by saying, "So...you shouldn't let Jessica wait."

He still looked at the ground, as the bell send him to his seat.

I sighed and buried my head in my hands. I had said goodbye to boys and love, and now they almost stalked me. It wasn't bearable. When I looked up again, I couldn't help but to notice Edward Cullen still starring at me. He looked so curious, only it was even more intense than it had been when I first got to know him. He looked extremely confused and yet there was an intensity to his stare. I couldn't really read his expression.

It was the first time I had ever experienced that I wasn't able to look away from him – the first time I had ever experienced not being able to look away from somebody at all. And that even though his eyes were coal black.

"Mr. Cullen?" I suddenly heard Mr. Banner say, and pulled my gaze away from Edward's.

"The Krebs Cycle," he answered to a question I hadn't heard.

I freed my hair from the ponytail I was wearing, and didn't care about what my hair looked like. I didn't want to look at Edward that would be too embarrassing.

Throughout the whole hour I looked at the blackboard, but I clearly felt Edward's stare – which too lasted the whole hour.

_What is it with that guy? First he ignores me, and then he stares at me! What's the next going to be? Him, following me like the other puppies?_

Somehow I couldn't picture that, Edward liking me that way. And yet the hair on the back on my neck rose at the thought. _Stop that instantly! _What was I going to do without that voice screaming some sense into me?

After that thought, the bell rang and I collected my books from the table.

"Michelle?" his voice was like velvet and bells at the same time – bells that shouldn't sound as familiar as they did. I slowly turned around, trying to control myself.

"What?" my voice was very rude, but Edward didn't seem to notice. "Are you talking to me again?" _There goes trying to be controlled._

He smiled his too perfect crooked smile, "Actually not," he sincerely answered, and the smile disappeared. But his eyes stayed intense.

I couldn't concentrate and closed my eyes for a second. "Then what do you want Edward?" I felt my stomach shake as I said his name. Then I opened my eyes.

"I want to apologize. I know I'm being very rude, but it would be better if we weren't friends," he looked so serious.

"Excuse me, but since when did we become friends?" I blurted out, before I could think about what came out of my mouth.

"Trust me," his eyes were begging. He was avoiding the question.

But he didn't fool me. I knew that he couldn't be trusted. He had broken his promise about telling me what had happened at the accident. That was why I snorted. "A pity you didn't realize that earlier," I started getting angry. "You could have saved yourself all that regret!"

"Regret?" he seemed surprised by what I said – caught off guard. "Regret for what?"

"Yeah regret! Regret for going between me and the van! For not just letting it crush me!"

"You think I regret saving your life?" he looked like I had just offended him – and that grossly.

"I _know _you do," Why else would he be ignoring me? "You don't even like me!"

"You don't know anything," now he was angry too.

"I know more than you would ever do," I glared at him.

"You think you know more than me?" he wryly asked.

I didn't see what was so funny about the fact that I knew more than him. "I know more about life than you ever will," I said, grabbed my books and stiffly walked out of the classroom. But in my rage, I didn't notice the doorjamb, and stumbled over it.

I didn't make any effort in getting up. Instead I groaned.

When I finally decided to get up and collect my books, Edward was standing in front of me with my books shoved in a pile.

"Thanks," I stiffly answered and he handed me my books.

"You welcome," he answered just as coldly.

I turned around, but decided it was better to be nice than leave the impression I had just given him of me. If I was ever going to make him talk, I had to behave. "Edward, wait," I turned around again, and he stood there, two feet away from me. He still looked a little angry. _It's now or never if you want some answers._ If he was 'talking' to me again, then I might as well use it. I walked into the Biology lab again – which was now empty – and Edward followed. "I'm sorry about before. That was mean of me," _That doesn't mean it can't be true, though._

"Apology accepted," he simply answered. But his mood seemed to have lightened up. He looked at me again with an unreadable expression.

"I just wanted to ask you something," I saw his face turning surprised, and realized that what I just said could be misinterpreted. "I just want to know...are you ever going to tell me how you stopped the van?" I looked at him, waiting for an answer. And I needed one fast. Or else his mysterious creature would keep me being drawn towards him.

"Yes," he smiled his crooked smile, and my heart jumped a little. Why was my heart being like that? "I had an adrenaline rush. It's very common – you can Google it."

Was he trying to be funny? An adrenaline rush left him unharmed? I snorted. But it sounded more like "Tsk." to me. "I don't 'Google' stuff," I stiffly managed to say. I was trying to control the anger within me – once again. "I look it up in a lexicon!" and then I turned around and slammed the classroom door shut. I didn't care about the stares that met me. The only thing I could do was mumble every insult I knew in every language – and that were many.

I walked with firm steps towards my locker and shoved in my books.

In Gym we had begun with basketball, and I was happy that I could dribble around with the ball, trying to get Edward out of my thoughts. He was there too often and it made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

In the middle of the lesson we had a quick break and I walked out into the girl's locker room to get some water. But before I ever got to do that, I noticed a message on my phone. I wondered who would write to me, when they knew I was in America right now.

Hey Michelle. Meet me outside building 6 after your last class. Eric.

How in the world had he gotten my phone number? I was sure that Nicole hadn't given it to anybody, so it was beyond me how he had gotten it.

I instantly wrote a message back to him. It would be better to have this done as fast as possible.

Meet me outside building 6. Now.

I really hoped it was something really important, since Eric made me ditch the last part of Gym.

Nicole entered the locker room and saw me putting on a raincoat. "Where are you going?" she asked me. She sounded shocked.

"Can you cover for me? I have this emergency-thing. I'll tell you later."

She nodded and I walked out and towards building 6. I waited for a few moments, thinking about how Eric had gotten my phone number.

"Hey Michelle," I turned around to see him standing a few feet behind me.

"Hey Eric," I friendly said to him. No need to let him know that I was a bit annoyed with ditching Gym. The friendlier I was, the more he would tell me. I hoped. He didn't say anything, so I asked him something instead, "Um... how did you even get my number?" He didn't answer me at first. But instead of waiting for him to answer, I decided to get right to the point. "Why did you want to meet me here?"

He blushed, just like Mike had, and I suddenly felt very awkward. I knew exactly _why _he had asked me to talk with him. How he got my number suddenly seemed very irrational – I would ask Nicole about it later.

"Well... I was wondering if you would go to the dance with me," his voice was shy, and even though I knew what he would ask me about it still took me by surprise.

"Err... Eric, I can't come. I have to pick up my brother at the airport that day," I sounded amazed, even to myself. "Wasn't it a girl's choice?" I managed to say, just to make sure I hadn't read wrong on the posters.

I looked at Eric, waiting for him to answer. He looked at the ground, just as Mike had, before he answered, "Yeah... Well, maybe next time."

I didn't get a chance to answer him before he began walking away. I had been too astonished by the fact that two boys had already tried to ask me to the dance. I suddenly heard a musical laughter and looked behind me, to find a laughing Edward Cullen walk into building 6.

_Is it just me, or is everyone ditching today?_ My sarcastic voice said. I shook my head and went back to Gym. Nicole approached me in the locker room. She instantly noticed that I was a little tense.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, her voice worried. I just shook my head.

The bell rang in that moment and Nicole told me that Coach Clapp hadn't even noticed my absence. After getting dressed, Nicole and I walked towards her Citroen – which had gotten repaired, since the accident – and got in. We were about to drive, when Edward's silver Volvo parked in front of us. I felt how my gaze hardened and I wished that I could drive a car myself. It would do him _so_ good with a little dent in his car. Just a little one...

Suddenly someone knocked on the window to my side, and I saw Tyler waving at me. I pushed the button that rolled down the window.

"I'm sorry Tyler, but we're stuck behind _Cullen_," I was sure that my contempt towards Edward was clear in my voice as I said his surname.

"Oh I know," Tyler answered. "I was just wondering if you would ask me to the dance."

I kept my face straight. But I was sure that my eyes showed how I was getting pretty annoyed with all this worshipper-crap.

"I'm not going Tyler," I answered a bit harder than I had intended.

"I know," he still sounded happy. That was never a good sign.

"I'm picking up my brother at the airport," I was still sounding rude, and Nicole was listening to every word.

"I know, Mike told me. I thought it was just an excuse to let him down easy," his mood still wasn't affected.

"Do you think I would make something like that up?" Okay, I had made this one up, but I wanted him to get my mood – and my message: _Not interested!_

"It's true," Nicole now joined me. I was glad to have her on my side. "She's going to pick up her brother on November the 13th – the night of the dance." Nicole wasn't as good a liar as me, so I could see that she was about to grimace. Her natural reaction, whenever she was lying.

"Oh, okay. We still have prom," Tyler happily walked to his car, and I closed the window. When I looked out the windshield, I saw Edward smirking in his rearview mirror – and the urge to run his car down was back again. Could he have heard what Tyler had said? And what if he had? I felt my cheeks turn hot, but I still managed to glare at his Volvo before it drove away, with Nicole and I following.

That night I dreamt of Edward Cullen again. I knew it was wrong, but I couldn't control my unconsciousness. I was falling for him, even though I had promised myself never to fall in love again. Even though he ignored me and was mean, there was something about him that fascinated me – something that made me want to know him better. He was fast, he was smart, his eyes changed color, his skin was pale-white and ice-cold, he was strong... My dream suddenly changed.

I was suddenly in a very dark forest. It was almost like it was midnight or something – only there was no moon. The only light was coming from somewhere inside the forest. I began to run towards the light – a very natural thing to do – when it suddenly started parting into two lights. I saw the second light move towards me, so I stopped. Out of a clearing came the most gorgeous person I had ever seen: Edward Cullen. His pale skin was shining; it was almost as if the light was his complexion. He smiled crookedly at me, before he disappeared into the woods again.

"Edward," I pleaded the darkness. "Edward, please don't go." A tear fell down my cheek, and I knew that I couldn't go look for him. The lights had disappeared, leaving only the moon to shine on me. It felt like the scenario had lasted hours or days, when I finally felt the cold of the night. I remembered how Edward's skin had been just as cold, and I began wondering again...

I almost flew out of the bed because of the image my mind had shown me. It had been Edward with blood-red eyes. What was that supposed to mean?

I suddenly felt cold, and looked at the window. It was open. I had probably left it open all night...

When Nicole and I drove to school, Nicole was driving a bit faster than the speed limit allowed. We didn't really talk about what had happened the day before. I had briefly told her what had happened – purposely leaving out the part of me arguing with Edward. And she had assured me that she hadn't given Eric my phone number, which then made me wonder even more, how he had gotten it.

When we parked I noticed Edward's silver Volvo in the other end of the parking lot. My head turned away from it – I was still angry with his comment yesterday.

_Adrenalin rush. _Snort.

I was about to walk to class with Nicole, when my cell phone fell out of my pocket. I sighed. "Nicole, you can go ahead. I just dropped something," she nodded and started walking. When I bend down for my cell phone I saw Edward Cullen leaning against Nicole's car, with my phone in his hands. I almost had a heart attack. How could he sneak that soundlessly unto me?

"_How _do you _do_ that?" I sounded out of breath, while I rested my hand by my accelerating heart. But I was still angry with him, and my almost breathless voice confirmed this – even though it was in a very non-hard way.

"Do what?" he asked smirking – probably at my reaction. He let my cell phone drop into my hand, carefully avoiding skin contact. I put my phone in my pocket again.

"Appear out of nowhere!"

His eyes suddenly looked amused by something. "Michelle it's not my fault that you are exceptionally unobservant," his voice was friendly, almost like velvet again. I almost forgot that I was angry with him. Almost.

Instead I rolled my eyes. "What was with the traffic jam yesterday?" I asked him. He should know that I hadn't forgiven him yet. "I thought you were trying to ignore me, not kill me by being annoying."

He shortly laughed before saying, "That was for Tyler's sake. He needed his chance." Edward suddenly looked like he was trying not to dissolve into laughter.

"You...You..." no words could describe what I wanted to call him. I was extremely mad, and stiffly started to walk away from him.

Edward followed me easily, though. "And I'm not trying to avoid you," he sounded serious as he walked next to me.

"Oh. So you are trying to kill me? Since Tyler's van couldn't do it?"

His face turned hard. "That was absurd," he didn't look too happy about my theory. "I thought we were over this."

"Apparently we're not!" I started to walk faster, and had a serious urge to hit him as he easily kept pace with me.

"Michelle I'm sorry. That was very rude of me," I tried to ignore him as we walked towards the cafeteria. I really didn't want to 'play along' anymore, I was too angry.

"Why won't you just leave me alone?" I felt that I meant it, but my voice had been a bit softer than I had initially intended. "I mean, you never even say "Hi" to me!"

"Hi."

I groaned. That guy was just too much for me to handle. I started walking again, since he was being unexceptionally annoying. He easily followed my pace, and began talking again. "I wanted to ask you something but you sidetracked me," he was suddenly all happy again.

I wanted to ask him if he suffered from schizophrenia or a multiple personality disorder, but I kept it to myself. _No need to get more enemy than you already are._

He took a deep breath before continuing. We were almost beneath the roof of the cafeteria now. "I was wondering if you, two Saturdays from now – you know the day of the dance––"

_Good Lord! Not him too! _"Are you _trying_ to make _fun_ of me?" I wasn't going to that dance. Not with Mike, not with Tyler, and _certainly_ _not_ with Edward Cullen. I wanted to be alone on my birthday. End of discussion.

Edward seemed rather amused by my reaction. "Can I please finish?"

I looked at his flawless face and sighed. It was better to have this over and done. "Shoot," I told him while closing my eyes. _You can do this! _I told myself.

"I couldn't help but to overhear that you were picking up your brother at the airport. It made me wonder if you needed a ride? Since you can't drive a car yourself." I opened my eyes and saw him smiling his crooked smile.

I felt how my mouth began to hang open. That was unexpected... I had merely lied about picking up my brother, so that I would have an excuse not to come to the dance.

"Or was that just an excuse to turn down all of your admirers?" he looked amused by this thought.

At first I didn't know how to answer. Why was he asking me this? He didn't like me! "Um... it actually was..." I embarrassingly managed to say. "But I was thinking that Judi–– um, Mrs. Evans could drive me to Seattle with her. I'm in kind of a need of some new books." Why was I even telling him this?

"I could give you a ride, if you'd like? I was planning on driving to Seattle in the next couple of week's anyway." he sounded almost... hopeful. Did he just say that because he wanted to spend the day with me?

"W–why?" I felt how butterflies started to form in my stomach and influenced my voice. I knew it wasn't good.

_Stupid butterflies..._ I thought and looked at the ground.

"Well, then you wouldn't be in need of waiting for Mrs. Evans to drive you home," he sounded so friendly. I almost didn't dare to look at his face. But when I finally did his golden eyes captured mine, turning my mind blank.

"I'm sorry, what?" Holy Moses! How did he _do _that?

"Then you wouldn't have to use as much gas. I'm sure you have to tank up more than once," he smiled.

"Why do you even care? It's none of your business!" I sounded rude, but I couldn't control my voice.

"The resources of this world are everyone's business," he was still smiling.

"Honestly Edward," the butterflies in my stomach didn't get any better, when an electric current suddenly shot through my body as I said his name. "Why are you being like this? I thought you didn't want to be friends with me." _And I thought you hated me, for that matter._

"I said that it would be better if we weren't friends. Not that I didn't want to be," he looked serious as he said it; I almost blushed at his seriousness.

"Thanks. Now that's all cleared up!" my voice was full of heavy sarcasm. I didn't want him to know how much I liked the idea that he wanted to be my friend. I needed him to see that I wanted distance – even though I knew my heart didn't want that.

He laughed at my 'joke', but then his expression turned thoughtful. "It would be more... _prudent _for you if you weren't my friend. But I'm tired of running away from you Michelle," as he said the last thing his eyes seemed to turn into melting butter. I almost forgot to breathe. "Do you want a ride to Seattle with me?" he asked me, his voice strangely intense. I noticed that this was the first time a boy had ever asked me if I wanted to do something with him, face to face. This gorgeous-looking boy, was asking _me _if I wanted a ride with _him_? Why me? _Why_?

"O–okay," I blurted out before I had time to think. What was I doing?

Edward looked almost...blissful, and I felt how my heart began to beat faster. _You promised!_ My mind screamed at me.

Then Edward's expression turned serious and he said, "By the way, you _should_ stay away from me." he turned around. "See you in class." There was something in his warning that seemed real. But I couldn't see what it was.

I stood a while under the roof, before my mind could think clearly again.


	9. Chapter 8: Lunchtime Theories

**8. Lunchtime Theories**

I wanted to hit my head against a wall.

What was I thinking? I should have just told him no – I should have made him think that I didn't want to be his friend. Instead I made him think I was interested. It was true though, I was falling for him – I just didn't want to. I had made a promise to myself – a promise my heart was about to break.

_After this, behave. Keep it light. He's probably just doing it to make up to the evil stares. Do you really want to break your heart again, when you find out that he doesn't like you that way? _My mind asked me. And I knew it was right, I had to build up a shield – to make him see that he had to back up. To make him see, or at least think, that I wasn't interested in his friendship.

I walked towards English and didn't even notice that the lesson had already begun.

"How nice of you to join us Miss Fairytale," Mr. Mason wasn't happy with interruption in his classes. I blushed and sat down next to Nicole – the seat next to her was empty today.

"Where were you?" she whispered to me. Mr. Mason didn't look at us.

"I dropped my phone and got talking with Edward Cullen?" it sounded more like a question than a statement.

Nicole looked wondering at me but didn't start asking a thousand questions, like I knew Jessica would have done. But I knew she was going to ask me about this when we were alone; she had had that knowing smirk on her face, which told me that she was going to ask about later.

The hour went slower than normally, and so did the other classes I had. When it was finally lunchtime, I couldn't help but to shortly glance at the Cullen-table.

Edward wasn't even there.

I felt how my mood turned to the worse, which was extremely stupid. Why oh why did my heart have to be so open? Why did it have to be the most vulnerable part of me that was the most openhearted part? My curiosity was the second thing that made me hold on to him. Even though Edward couldn't be trusted – boys at all couldn't be trusted – but his extreme beauty and his way of behaving made him interesting. More interesting than he should be to me.

_As soon as his mystery is solved he's not going to be that interesting anymore,_ I thought, knowing that it probably wouldn't be the case. Still, I hoped.

"What's wrong?" I heard Mike ask me. Why did that guy have to notice me so much?

"Nothing," I answered, wondering if my voice concealed my sadness. "I'm just not feeling that well. I think I'll just have some water today." Mike looked worried and I assured him that it wasn't anything serious.

We sat down at the usual table, and I glanced one more time at the Cullen-table. My heart longed to see him sit with his family. Suddenly the blond guy, Jasper, looked at me. He looked almost...curious. Just like his girlfriend Alice had done before him some time ago.

I blushed, looked away and opened my water to drink something.

"Edward Cullen is staring at you," I immediately looked at Jessica who was giggling. But her eyes showed me her annoyance with Edward's attention towards me. Well, she still had Mike.

She was looking at an empty table by the wall, to the right of our table. Only, the table wasn't empty. Edward Cullen was sitting there, smiling at me. He then started to wave, and I felt how my mouth fell open in amazement.

"Is he waving at _you_?" Nicole whispered in my ear.

Edward then raised his right hand and motioned with his index finger for me to come and sit with him. I could only look back at him in astonishment. Why was he suddenly being like this?

"I wonder why he's sitting alone today," Jessica wondered out loud. _The question is: What caused him to want me to join him today?_

I didn't know what to do. I hated to disappoint people, yet I knew that I should keep my distance to Edward. My heart told me to go over to him, while my brain kept telling me to be rational – to think about how I would be hurting again if I didn't keep away. I shortly looked at Edward's family. Jasper was still looking at me, he was still curious but then he suddenly turned away. I noticed that he had looked in Edward's direction before looking away.

That distracted my mind enough to let my heart win this time. "Maybe he needs some help with his Biology homework. I better go check it out." I felt the others stare at my neck as I went to Edward's table.

I reached him, and he was still smiling at me. "Why don't you come sit with me today?" he asked. And I couldn't help but to still feel a little amazed. As I sat down, I noticed that he was actually waiting for an answer.

"Okay," _Since when did he suddenly want to sit with me? I thought he didn't like me. What the heck happened? Did I get sucked into a parallel universe? Am I dreaming?_

He was still smiling, but it was his perfect crooked smile. It felt like I was really dreaming and could wake up every moment. He was _too_ perfect to be real.

_Snap out of it Michelle._

"Why the sudden change?" I curiously asked amazement still clear in my voice.

He hesitated a moment before the words came so fast out of his mouth that I almost didn't get it all. "I thought that as long as I'm going to hell I might as well do it thoroughly."

I patiently waited for an explanation to this, but he didn't say anymore. _What did he do since he's going to hell? _I wondered, and Edward's facial expression changed for a second. But it happened so fast, that I thought I might have made it up. "You know that didn't make any sense to me, right?"

He smiled again. "I'm counting on that," He then looked over my shoulder and started to snicker.

"What?" I was about to turn around and see what was so funny, but Edward's voice nailed me to the spot.

"Your friends don't seem too happy about me stealing you."

"They'll survive," I felt their stares boring into my back.

"I might not give you back again, though," he smiled crookedly, and for a moment I actually forgot where I was.

Then the situation hit me – Jessica was surely going to bombard me with questions tomorrow – and Nicole would surely do that later today.

"You look worried," his mood was still ecstatic, but his eyes seemed...torn.

_Torn?_

"No actually not," No need to tell him about my questionings later. "I'm just surprised. Why so friendly all of a sudden?" I looked at the water bottle and took a swig.

"I already told you. I'm tired of keeping away from you – So I give up," his pale hands flew up, as if he surrendered. He was still smiling but his eyes were very serious. His expression didn't really fit a teenager.

How old was Edward actually?

I thoughtfully moved my head to one side, closed my eyes and sighed. Then I opened my eyes again and saw that Edward looked curious. "You give up? Is it really that hard keeping away from me?" I couldn't stop myself from teasing him a little. While I had a hard time trying to keep away from him, he had a hard time keeping away from me. How comically absurd.

"Yes," his expression changed from teasing to serious and back again in a second.

_How does he_ do _that?_

"I've given up trying to be good. From now on I'll do as I want and let destiny choose as it may," his voice had a hard edge at the end.

I lightly shook my head. "You know, you shouldn't believe in destiny that way," I told him.

He looked curiously at me. "Why not?" he sounded incredibly interested.

I shortly laughed, halfheartedly. "What if destiny isn't tied up in one string? What if every decision we make changes our destiny?" I asked him. "You could walk away from me right now – change the decision you just made. And you could choose to stay away from me again," I took a breath before continuing, "That would be a different future, than the one you're creating right now."

He looked at me in amazement.

I looked down at my bottle and shyly managed to say, "Well... at least that's how I look at destiny."

"That is quite a fascinating way to look at it," he stated, and made me look at him again.

We sat a bit in silence, and I looked down at my water bottle again. I didn't want to let him know just _how _interested I really was in him. It was better for me to try to keep it light. _Remember, you promised,_ the voice in my head told me. _I know, _I answered it. _I know..._

I didn't know if there was any way back from now. If I got hurt again, I wouldn't know how to move on. That was why I had to build up a shield. I would try to avoid my future as much as I could – My choices could change the future. I just didn't know if the future could be changed anymore. Normally I put up a shield around buys because of my shyness towards them – yet I was almost relaxed, when I was with Edward. I was being _me_. Almost.

I sighed before getting back to our last discussion. "You do know that I actually didn't really understand what you said before, right?"

"I know," Edward's breathtaking crooked smile was back. "But I always say too much when I'm around you. That's one of the problems." He thought he said _too_ much when he was with me? He was being cryptic and that was what was so damn fascinating! I didn't know anything about him – which actually wasn't true. I had noticed a lot about him in the last months, he just didn't give me any answers – and he thought he said too much?

Snort!

"You can count on that I don't get a word of it," I sounded annoyed, even though I hadn't planned on it. _But I'll find out eventually._

"I'm counting on that," he was still smiling crookedly.

Would I ever get used to that smile? Probably not. I still couldn't get used to the fact that Edward actually existed. It was like dreaming, and then suddenly you would wake up and find out it was all a dream.

I couldn't think of anything to say, even though I wanted to. Another thing I shouldn't be feeling. The minutes ticked by, and while I looked at my bottle I thought of what I could possibly still say. I wasn't great at small talk – that, I knew. I finally got the courage to say something, and looked up, to see him starring curiously at me.

"So, since you've started talking to me again, and can't stay away from me," I almost laughed at the absurdness in that, "does that mean we're friends?" I asked as nonchalant as possible. But I felt how my stomach started to shake.

_Stupid butterflies... _I heard the voice in my head mumble.

Edward's facial expression changed so fast, that I almost didn't notice. "Friends..." he mused, his voice seeming dubious. There was something about friends that he didn't quite like.

"Or… maybe not," I blushed and looked down at my bottle again. This was extremely embarrassing, but I didn't want to let Edward know. I wanted him to at least try to stay away from me again. But the more I thought about him ignoring me, the more it hurt in my heart – and I knew that if he wasn't going to ignore me sooner or later, I had to be the responsible one.

"We can try," he told me. "But I warn you, I'm not a good friend for you." behind his smile the warning was real. Yet it didn't scare me. And the way he had said "Try" almost made me shiver. It was almost like the perfect word in the world, coming out of Edward's mouth…

_Snap out of it Michelle! _I had been very close to slapping myself in front of him.

"I think you've mentioned that before."

He halfheartedly laughed. "And you're not listening to me. Believe me, if you're smart you'll keep away from me," his expression seemed amused. He probably thought me stupider that I was.

"I think you've made your opinion on my missing intellect clear too," I was offended. He had insulted my pride – I knew I was smart, but my curiosity kept me with him. Actually, I didn't want to sit here, I knew I shouldn't. At least I knew _my _reason behind it.

He apologetically smiled, and I forgave him. As long as he didn't call me stupid, I was fine with it.

"So...as long as I'm being _not smart,_" my face turned into a grimace. I didn't like to call myself stupid, "does that mean we're friends?"

He looked thoughtful before saying, "That sounds about right." his crooked smile was back. I looked down at the table, without really looking at it, and took another swig of the water.

"What are you thinking?" I immediately looked up at him again. His voice had been extremely curious, as if he had waited centuries to ask that question. Edward Cullen was the strangest person I had ever met.

Without thinking I blurted out the truth. His intense ocher eyes made me. It was _so _wrong, and yet _so _right at the same time. I almost sighed before I answered him, "I'm trying to find out the mystery about you." It sounded a bit strange to me, but it made Edward's eyes turn defensive, careful, while he with some effort kept his smile in place.

"Are you having any luck with that?" he asked me in an offhand tone.

"Nope. You're a real mystery," I sighed.

He laughed. "Have you thought of any theories yet?"

I looked at my bottle again. Actually I hadn't really thought about what could be the answer to Edward's strange behavior. I remembered the tale of Achilles – his weak point had been his ankle. Maybe Edward had a weak point too? _Just not his shoulder. _I almost laughed out loud at that.

"Nancy Drew is still working on the case," I joked, and he laughed. It made me look up at him again.

"Are those any theories I might hear?" he almost seemed like he wanted to hear them, but on the other side he seemed like he didn't want to. What was it with this guy?

I blushed a little and looked down at my bottle again. He would probably laugh at my ideas. Hercules, Achilles – strong Gods.

"Won't you tell me?" he sounded disappointed, since I didn't answer him. "That's _really _frustrating you know."

It was frustrating that I didn't tell him what I was thinking? "Frustrating?" I asked him. "I don't think so. It can_n__ot _be frustrating not to know what people think. And it's _not at all _frustrating when someone treats you friendly and then suddenly ignores you from one day to another!"

Edward grimaced.

My voice got angrier the more I said. I finally wanted some answers. "And it's _not frustrating _either if you strangely got saved from a bizarre accident, without being told how! Not to mention, that you are given little cryptic notes to keep you awake at night, trying to figure out what could possibly be meant with them. That is _not frustrating _at all!" I felt how my breathing quickened. That always happened when I got angry.

"You've got quite a temper, don't you?"

"Only if forced to the surface." I felt how I slowly cooled down again. I had finally managed to say what had been on my mind for a very long time. "I don't like double standards."

We stared at each other unsmiling. He was the first who had ever seen me regularly angry. I rarely was, but Edward Cullen somehow managed to get my blood boiling in seconds. He was so...frustrating!

Suddenly he looked over my shoulder and started to snicker.

I sighed, and almost groaned, "What?"

"Your boyfriend thinks I'm being unpleasant to you. He's debating about whether or not to come break up our fight," he snickered again.

For a moment I thought my ex-boyfriend was in the cafeteria, but then remembered that I wasn't at my school in Denmark right now. "I don't know who you're talking about, but I'm sure you're wrong." _I haven't got a boyfriend! _I had the urge to mumble "Idiot", but held it back. If Edward heard half as well as me – which I was sure he did – then he would probably hear it.

He shook his head. "I already told you, most people are easy to read."

"Except for me, of course."

"Yes. Except for you," he suddenly looked deep in thought. "With exceptions," he then silently mumbled, which made me doubt that I should have heard it. "I wonder why?" he wondered out loud. I looked down at the table again – I couldn't make myself look into his intense, golden eyes again. "Aren't you hungry?" he suddenly asked me, while I turned around the bottle in my hands.

"No actually not," he didn't have to know that I couldn't eat anything because of my shaking stomach. My voice was almost influenced by this. "Aren't _you_ hungry?" I asked him, just to distract myself.

"No. I'm not hungry," he looked like someone who had just heard some kind of private joke. I couldn't understand why. But then it hit me: the table in front of him was empty. When he was sitting with his siblings there was always food in front of him, but he never touched it. Did his siblings do the same?

Edward's expression changed again, but it happened so fast that I thought I had made it up again. It suddenly made me think of something.

"Could you do me a favor?" I tried to sound friendly instead of demanding, but I wasn't sure if I succeeded.

His expression changed again. "That depends on the favor."

"I just wanted to know if you could warn me before you decide to ignore me for my own good again?"

He smiled. "That sounds fair."

I looked down and the bottle again, and started tracing my index finger along the lid of it. I didn't really know what else I could say. And I didn't dare to look at him again – I was afraid to blush again, because of his intense golden eyes.

"Can I have an answer in return?" he asked in a very persuasive tone, and I allowed myself to look at him again. It was rude not to look at people when you talked to them. But I shouldn't have done that. I couldn't help but to give him what he wanted. His eyes were so intense.

"One," I answered him, before I had time to think.

"Won't you tell me _one _theory?"

_Not that! _"Rather not," I felt how I bit my lower lip. Something I hadn't done for years now.

"You didn't qualify, you just promised one answer," he reminded me, his eyes starring deep into mine.

"And you haven't cheated yourself," I gave him back. He sighed.

"Be nice. Just tell me one little theory," he pleadingly looked at me. I got befuddled and blushed. "I won't laugh," he told me.

But I knew he would.

He looked down at the table, but then glanced up at me through his long black lashes – his golden eyes almost seemed liquid as they intensely stared into mine. "Please?" he breathed, leaning towards me.

Right then my mind turned blank. _God, _was he a hypnotist or what? _How _did he _do _that? "I'm sorry, what?" my voice sounded distant and dazed. Ha, he could dazzle people too. I noted another mystical quality to my list. Not many people could dazzle others like that. I was absolutely certain that nobody could actually do that. Well, nobody except Edward.

"Please tell me one little theory," how could he look so irresistible? Ugh! It was worse than puppy dog eyes.

I blinked, my mind still being confused, before I answered, "Um, dipped into a lake like Achilles?" I bashfully looked down at the table. My theory was really embarrassing, since I knew it couldn't be true. And I didn't really believe in comics – like Superman or Spiderman.

"Very imaginative," he teased.

"I haven't really got anything else. Or..." I bit my lower lip again, and looked down at the table.

"What?" he asked with interest. His voice sounded torn again, but I kept my eyes on the table.

"Hercules descendant?" I blushed even more. My theories were ridiculous. Maybe I should have just kept to the comic books.

I heard Edward laugh.

"I thought you promised not to laugh, remember?" I glared at him, but I couldn't stop my cheeks from turning red.

Edward struggled to compose his face. "You're not even close," he told me.

"Hmm..." I couldn't help but to speculate again. Maybe he _was_ bitten by a spider. But he didn't actually crawl around on the walls. "Then I guess you can take kryptonite?" I teased. A little amount of Superman he was – he could lift cars.

"It doesn't bother me," he played along, and smiled his perfect crooked smile.

I couldn't help but to sigh. "I'm going to find out eventually, you know."

He didn't look to happy about my statement. "I wish you wouldn't try," he was serious again.

"Because...?" finally I had the chance to find out more about him. Solve more of the puzzle – get more clues.

"What if I'm not one of the good guys? What if I'm the bad guy?" his eyes were very serious, but he tried to hide this by smiling playfully.

"Oh," I felt how the bits and pieces started falling into place. He had tried to tell me this all along, and really it was quite obvious. "I think I understand."

"You do?" Edward looked horrified for a moment, like he feared he had said too much. His eyes were full of an emotion I couldn't describe. It was _so _strange...

"You're dangerous?" I noticed what I was saying, but I didn't feel scared. He _was _dangerous; he had tried to tell me all along. But still here I sat, as fascinated about him as always, trying to get away when I couldn't. "But not evil." No he wasn't evil. Or else he wouldn't be sitting here, talking friendly with me. Unless of course, there was more to it than I knew about.

_But he glared at you in the beginning, _a voice in my head reminded me. _And so what? _I told it. _He's being friendly now. Leave it._

We sat a bit in silence, before he stole my bottle lid and started spinning it between his fingers. I couldn't do anything else but to stare fascinated at him. He had meant that he was dangerous, and I wasn't afraid. Why? Was it because I trusted him? Or was it because of my all too open heart? I could only sigh, and laugh halfheartedly at my theories.

Edward looked curiously at me, while I watched the lid spin extremely fast on the table in front of him. I suddenly noticed that there were almost no people in the cafeteria anymore.

I jumped out of my seat. "We're going to be late," I made a face. I hated to be late for class.

"I'm not going," Edward looked trivially at the lid.

"Why?" he couldn't ditch! Or did he do that very often? Did he think Biology was too easy too?

"It's healthy to ditch class now and then," he smiled at me.

"Well, I'm not ditching," even though his absence would make me want to ditch too.

_Don't be ridiculous._

Right then the first bell sounded.

"I guess I'll see you later then," he still looked at the lid, but his expression wasn't indifferent anymore. He looked sad about something. Why?

I looked away, blushing, and felt how my heart started to beat faster – no it couldn't be because of that. "See you around," my voice shook a little, and after that I half-ran to class


	10. Chapter 9: The 'Black' Knight?

**9. The "Black" Knight?**

I was glad that it had stopped raining, since I had locked my raincoat in my locker – which was closest to Biology.

Luckily Mr. Banner hadn't showed up yet, so I calmly walked to my seat, while I turned a little miserable, since Edward wasn't going to be there.

_Stupid heart...Why did you have to be so openhearted? _I sighed.

I noticed that both Mike and Angela were looking at me. Mike looked... resentful. Angela looked rather surprised, awed even. I knew I was going to like her.

Finally Mr. Banner entered the class, carrying a large white bag. He put it down on his desk and started to explain about today's lesson. "Today we're going to do something quite special." his hand disappeared into the bag and reappeared with a little box. He opened it and took out a little card, a green object and something that looked like a miniature spoon.

I felt how horror spread through my body.

"The Red Cross is having a blood drive in Port Angeles next weekend, so I thought you should all know your blood type." He took the little card and started to tell how each blood type was found on it. Last year I had done this in Biology too. That was why I already knew my blood type: 0 negative. But that wasn't why I didn't want to do it again.

I was terrified of needles.

Mr. Banner started to pass around the boxes to each student in class. "And please don't stick your finger until I've dropped water on your cards," he told us. When he was back at his desk again, he started explaining what each of the individual pieces was. "Okay guys, I want you each to take the objects in front of you, and listen carefully to my instruction. This is an indicator card. I already explained to you how it works before, so I hoped you listened to that," he grabbed the card with the four squares marked on it. "The next in your box is a four-pronged applicator–" he held up the little white spoon-like thing. "And the last thing is a sterile micro-lancet." he held up a small piece of green plastic and spilt it open.

Even though I couldn't see the needle from this distance, I felt how my stomach twisted, and my body went rigid.

He started at Mike's table, dripping water on each of the squares of his indicator card. "I want you all, to carefully prick your finger with the lancet..." Mr. Banner grabbed Mike's hand and jabbed the spike into his middle finger. I felt how the room suddenly started to spin. _Have you even eaten enough today? _I thought, and clearly remembered the other times where I had actually fainted because I hadn't eaten enough.

"Put a small drop of blood on each of the prongs," Mr. Banner demonstrated by squeezing Mike's finger till the blood flowed. I felt my stomach twisting even more. "And then apply it to the card," he held up the dripping red card for us to see.

My body temperature started rising, and I rested my head on the table. It helped a little, since the table was nice and cold. As if my growing body temperature wasn't enough, I started hyperventilating – but the nausea wouldn't go away. I heard a ringing in my ears and knew that my face was pale-white.

"Michelle, are you all right?" Mr. Banner asked me, his head close to mine. He sounded a bit alarmed.

"I already know my blood type, sir," I said in a weak voice. I felt like vomiting any moment now.

"Are you feeling faint?"

"Yes," I muttered. "I think I'd like to go out for a while." I didn't dare to raise my head from the table.

Mr. Banner was about to ask something, but then I heard Mike say, "I'll follow her to the nurse."

_Great, _I sarcastically thought. _The loyal Golden Retriever at your service._

As Mike came closer to me, I felt how the ringing in my ears got louder.

"Can you walk?" Mr. Banner asked me, just before Mike was beside me.

"Yes," I whispered. _Just let me get out of this room. I'll crawl._

Mike was very eager to put his hand around my waist and pulled my arm over his shoulder. I heavily leaned against him as we walked out of the building and the further we walked away from building 4, the more blurry and black my surroundings got.

"Could you put your hand in your pocket?" I asked him, as I felt I was very close to fainting. He did as I told him, and I felt my surroundings get clearer. But as we were at the edge of the cafeteria I knew I would be fainting if I didn't lie down – and that now! Unless I wanted Mike to drag my unconscious body to the nurse.

If I hadn't been close to fainting, I would have grimaced. Like every girl in the world I thought I weighed a little too much – even though I actually didn't.

"Put me down, now!" I felt how everything around me began to fade away, and my vision was blocked with tiny black dots. Mike let me go of me and I fell on my knees. I didn't care if there was asphalt underneath me – all I wanted was to lie down.

I crawled towards the closest wall and lay down. I breathed in heavily through my nose and held my eyes closed. I didn't want to look at Mike's wondering face, and I didn't want him to follow me to the nurse. Fresh air always helped against dizziness. And I didn't want to pollute my body with unnecessary medicine all the time.

"Wow, Michelle you're green," Mike's nervous voice told me. At least I hadn't fainted yet.

"Michelle?" this wasn't Mike's voice that sounded close. Why did _he _suddenly have to show up? I didn't want to answer him, though. I was too terrified of throwing up.

"What's wrong with her?" Edward's voice was full of concern. I almost groaned. Why could he never leave me alone?

"I don't know what happened. She turned all pale after the first ones had pricked their fingers. She didn't even do it herself," Mike sounded stressed, yet protective.

Sigh. _Your faithful puppy._

"Michelle?" Edward's voice was very close now. "Are you all right?"

"No," I groaned and squeezed my eyes even more shut. "Just go away!" I sounded stubborn – and a little sick – to myself.

Edward laughed and I felt how the floor disappeared from underneath me.

"Hey! Put me down!" My eyes flew up in shock and I noticed that Edward held me in his arms, carefully holding me away from his body. He didn't seem to have trouble carrying me – like my hundred pounds only were ten pounds. And I hated being carried around. I was afraid of heights – even though there wasn't really far to the ground. But I was afraid that he would drop me, and I would hit my butt. So I closed my eyes, hoping it would make the fear of falling – and vomiting – go away.

"Hey! I was supposed to take her to the nurse!" Mike's protest was far behind us.

"So you faint at the sight of blood?" Edward seemed entertained by the thought.

"No, I'm a diabetic," I hoped the sarcasm was clear in my weak voice.

Edward laughed, but ignored my answer. "And not even your own blood," he laughed again.

_What the heck is so damn funny about fainting at the sight of blood?_

I breathed in heavily through my nose and squeezed my eyes even more shut. I hoped this would help me not fainting, or vomit all over him for that sake. I clamped my lips together. The trip to the nurse was pretty...rocking.

"Oh my!" I suddenly heard a female gasp.

I opened my eyes, and found myself in the front office. Edward had somehow managed to get inside with me in his arms.

"She fainted in Biology," Edward explained to Miss Cope, the receptionist. She hurried past the front counter to hold the nurse's door open for us. The grandmotherly nurse looked up from a novel, astonished, as Edward placed me gently on the crackly paper that covered the brown vinyl mattress on the one cot. He then moved to stand against the wall as far across the little room as possible. His eyes were exited and bright. It was like watching the eyes of a little child.

"She's just a little faint," he reassured the startled nurse. "They're blood typing in Biology.

"There's always one," the nurse nodded understanding.

I closed my eyes and heard Edward muffle a snicker. I immediately felt better – it was just to breath heavily in and out. And for that matter, to lay still.

The nurse disappeared for a moment, and came back with a cold compress – probably for my head. But I felt much better, so I knew I wouldn't have use of it.

"Now dear, it's going to be much better," she friendly and caring assured me.

I quickly got up and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I'm feeling much better now, thank you¸" my voice was still a little weak, so I cleared my throat.

The nurse looked like she wanted to push me back down again, but she didn't. She walked out again, sighing. She probably was going out for another cold compress if more 'injured' arrived.

I lay back down again, ignoring the cold compress.

"Feeling better?" Edward sounded like he was trying not to laugh.

"Yes," I sincerely answered, yet I felt my irritation rise. What was it that was so funny?

He suddenly turned all serious, "You really scared me back there. I thought Newton was dragging your dead body off to bury it in the woods. I was concerned that I might have to avenge your murder." His tone made it sound like he was confessing a humiliating weakness.

_As if Mike would ever kill me. I'm probably going to kill him first because of his Golden Retriever-ness._

Edward snickered and I turned to look annoyed at him. "You know, I've seen corpses with better color than you," his teasing tone made me look away and laugh halfheartedly.

"Ha ha," I doubted that. I had seen my dead grandfather, and I had never been as pale as him. But Edward was... _Hmm... _"How did you actually find me? I thought you were ditching," I was mostly curious to know what he had done. Had he been out saving the world?

"I was sitting in my car, listening to a CD."

Dang. That wasn't interesting at all.

I felt that the ringing in my ears was gone, and sat up at the edge of the mattress again. My hair started to stick to my head, but I didn't care how it looked right now. I didn't actually have any problems with my hair, when it blew into my eyes and such stuff. I just couldn't take when half of it blocked my right eye. I sighed.

_That's the bad part of having a side parting hairstyle..._

I suddenly heard the front office door open, and the receptionist say, "We have another one."

Edward sighed. "I think you should go outside now Michelle."

I looked bewildered at him, but suddenly felt the room spin again, as Mike came in with a guy named Lee Stephens – another boy from our Biology class.

"Trust me – Go." I followed Edward out of the infirmary. The nurse quickly walked past us. "You actually listened to me," Edward was clearly stunned by this.

I turned around to look at him, and found him looking curiously at me. "I could feel the blood," Or...I didn't know how else I could explain it. "Almost smell it," I lied. How was I supposed to tell him that I had problems with my blood sugar if I didn't eat? I wasn't even a diabetic! Okay, he was my friend, but he had cheated me before. Then I could cheat him too – that would at least make us even.

"People can't smell blood," he looked at me, almost as if he was examining me for something.

"I normally can't either. But it smelled...rusty." Or, that was what I had heard it did. Edward looked at me with an unfathomable expression.

I blushed. "What?"

"It's nothing," his voice seemed indifferent, but his face still looked a little curious.

_He can't possibly be more curious than me, _I thought and Edward turned his head away. Smiling?

I heard the door to the infirmary open, and saw an angry Mike walk towards us. _Doggy has temper, _I sarcastically thought, and felt the urge to grimace. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed Edward went to stand against the empty counter, staring off into space.

"_You _look better," Mike didn't sound too happy. Somehow I liked it. At least he wasn't annoying anymore.

"Yes," I simply answered. ''_Can't you just walk away again?_''I had the strangest urge to add, but I didn't. There was no need to torture Mike more that necessary. Even though I enjoyed the thought more than I should.

"Aren't you going back to class?" he asked me, still angry.

My eyes widened, "Are you crazy? I'd just have to turn around right away!"

"Yeah, I guess..." he didn't look too happy about that thought. Suddenly I wished to make him happy again. _Exactly like a puppy._

We stood a little in silence before Mike said something again. Out of the corner of my eyes I noticed Edward make a face.

_What is wrong with that guy?_

"Are you coming to the beach on Saturday? Nicole told me that she could drive you, if it is," his voice had a hard edge to it. I wasn't sure if he even noticed it himself, but I was sure he didn't mean it as an open invitation.

I wanted to say no, but I knew that would disappoint Nicole. She hated whenever I was alone in the house. Somehow she felt responsible for not being that much together with me, showing me the 'American culture'. I almost sighed.

"Okay, I'll come. Nicole's been bugging me about it anyway. And she's told me that the beaches here were supposed to be extremely beautiful." Mike looked happier as I said this. It wasn't so hard to make him happy.

"We meet at my dad's store at ten," he sounded strict again. _His thoughts are probably, _"_Cullen's not invited!_"I sarcastically imitated in my mind.

"Okay," the sarcasm should have been clear in my voice, but my thoughts and my mouth were sometimes two different organisms. That was probably why I was so good at lying and acting.

"I'll see you in Gym," he smiled at me and I smiled back, as he walked out of the office and towards Biology again.

When he was gone I couldn't help but to groan. "Gym," I shook my head. I didn't have the strength for that right now, I felt extremely exhausted. The only thing I needed right now was something to eat, or I would surely faint in Gym. I blushed at the thought. It wasn't the prettiest vision – embarrassing, really. _Then you're really going to be the damsel in distress. _I blushed even more.

"I can take care of that," Edward's voice was only a whisper at my right ear. His cold breath tickled my ear – my concentration started failing... "Just sit down and look pale," he muttered. That wasn't really a challenge – not when you were superior at acting.

I went over to one of the creaky folding chairs and rested my head against the wall with my eyes closed. Now Edward would see me in action. I had lied myself sick many times before in Denmark, but that wasn't something I necessarily wanted Edward to know. I just wanted him to notice my great acting skills.

_Why do you even want him to notice that? _But I pushed the thought away. _There's no time for failure now._

"Miss Cope?" Edward asked the receptionist – whose return I hadn't noticed. His voice was like melting honey, and I wondered what his eyes would be like. That made my heart beat a little faster – even though it shouldn't. _How _did he _do _that?

"Yes Edward?" the receptionist answered, slightly dazzled.

"Michelle isn't feeling too well for Gym next hour. Actually I was thinking I should take her home now. I was wondering if you could excuse her from class?" his voice was like silk and honey at the same time, and my mind suddenly imagined him talking like that to me...

I quickly returned to my role and groaned a little, carefully not overdoing it. No need to make Miss Cope suspicious.

"Do you need to be excused too, Edward?" her voice fluttered. He shouldn't dazzle people like that. Did he even know that he did it?

"No, I have Mrs. Goff. She won't mind."

"Okay, it's all taken care of. You feel better Michelle," I weakly smiled at Miss Cope. She looked at me with a worried expression.

_You're fantastic Michelle, _my mental voice sounded proud.

"Can you walk, or do you want me to carry you again?" Edward had turned around and lightly grimaced.

Was he trying to be funny? I didn't want to be carried again – I would rather skip another ride if necessary. "I'll walk."

When I got up from the chair, I suddenly felt how the black dots reappeared in front of my eyes, and my legs started shaking a bit. Luckily it passed, and I walked with firm steps out of the office. I was going to get my stuff from my locker, before I would start a one-hour walk towards Nicole's. _There's no need to make her ditch to drive me home._

I felt how the rain slowly drenched my sweater, but I didn't walk any faster – instead I stopped and lifted my head up to the sky. My head was still sweaty, and there wasn't a faucet in sight, so the rain was the only wet thing I could use to clean my sweaty face with at the moment.

Edward suddenly stood beside me as I lowered my head again. I felt how it was beginning to rain a little harder now. If I didn't get to my raincoat soon, I would probably catch a cold.

I quickly, but shyly, waved at him before I started walking towards building four. But I didn't get far, before I was stopped by a hand grasping my sweater.

"Where do you think you're going?" Edward sounded a bit offended.

"I'm going to get my things in my locker. I can't go home without them," even to myself I sounded confused. _And I can't go home without a raincoat. Then I'll really get soaking wet and probably catch a cold._

He let go of me, and I walked towards my locker again. Edward quietly followed. When I finally had my things, was wearing my raincoat and standing outside at the parking lot again, I started to walk in the direction of Nicole's house. But I didn't get very far, before I was pulled backwards once again.

"Where do you think you're going now?" Edward sounded outraged again. He started dragging me after him.

"Let go! I'm going home!" He was _so_ stubborn!

"You can't walk home without catching a cold. Besides, I promised to bring you home safely. Or didn't you hear that?" he sounded both teasing, serious and worried at the same time.

Was he even a teenager?

"There is nothing wrong with my ears!" I didn't like that he was being like that towards me. He was almost like my overly protective mother! "And I'm perfectly capable of walking home myself!"

He let go of me by his car, and got in the driver's side. I calculated my chances of running from him, but realized they weren't too good. Boys usually ran faster than girls, and I wasn't a very fast runner. _Says the girl with a grandfather who has won 60 mile marathons... __Sigh_.

"I'll just drag you back," he threatened. Dang! He had discovered my plan.

"This is utterly unnecessary!" I almost laughed at my own words. They didn't sound at all like they belonged into the 21st century.

"Just get in Michelle."

I stubbornly stood in front of the car. The rain increased and I remembered how much I hated getting wet. I angrily sat down on the passenger seat, and felt how my wet hair was dripping on the leather seat.

_Stupid rain, _I surly thought.

Edward turned on the heat and turned down the music playing in the background. I looked out the window while we were driving, and I didn't really see anything because of the rain. I was also planning on giving Edward the silent treatment, when the music suddenly seemed familiar to me. I began to wonder where I could have heard it before.

"What's actually the name of this piece?" I asked him. I hated unsolved mysteries – one like Edward. I was an extremely curious person.

"It's Debussy––"

"Clair de Lune?" I cut him off. I knew that I'd heard it before. My dad had sometimes played it, so I had it on my iPod – but only because of my dad.

"Yes. Do you know it?" he looked as surprised as I felt. We actually had something in common. Wow.

"Only superficial. My dad's been playing it sometimes, so I remember the melody," suddenly the thoughts started flowing to me: Edward liked classical music, behaved old-fashioned and even talked like that sometimes. How old was he actually? He could impossibly be over 20, yet he behaved like that. He was _so_...old-fashioned.

Just like me.

"How old are you Michelle?" I looked surprised at him. Could he read my mind or something?

"I'm sixteen," No need to tell him when my birthday was.

"You don't seem sixteen."

I suddenly noticed that we had stopped, and were parked right in front of Nicole's house. _Wow. That was fast._

I couldn't help but to laugh at Edward's statement. He had sounded almost reproachful.

"What?" Edward looked both curious and confused. It made me laugh even harder. Did he know how funny he looked right then?

"You're the first to ever tell me that. People have always guessed me younger than I am," I paused to look at Edward. He looked really interested in what I said. "But I've always told myself that I have the looks of a teenager and the brains of an adult. My dad seems to agree with me on that." to myself I sounded very egocentric, and that made me blush. That was yet another bad quality of mine. I was really selfish, and I hated it. I longed to be selfless.

Edward just laughed.

"What's so funny?" he stopped laughing, and just shook his head. Instead, I decided to ask him something as well. It was him who was the mystery after all – not me. "You don't seem much like a High School student either."

He made a face and changed the subject. "What are your parents like?" He looked out the windshield as he asked me. It was like he was trying to compose his features – or else it was only me imagining things.

"My mom looks like me, only she's much prettier," he looked at me and raised his eyebrows at that. "She at least looks like a lady," I couldn't help but to sigh at that. Edward only seemed amused. "Even though my brain seems older, I still look like a little girl," I could only shake my head at that. "Well, my mom has darker hair than mine, and longer," I continued. "She can be a bit overprotective some times, but I know she means the best with it. She's an amazing cook. And she's one of my best friends," I stopped and couldn't control the emotions that floated through me right then. How I really missed her – even her way of being overprotective sometimes.

Edward was still looking curiously at me, so I figured I had to continue. "My dad's older that my mother – about twenty years. He's extremely smart and kind," I smiled at that. "He's very proud that both my brother and I have his eyes. And he absolutely _loves _to talk science and philosophy. But he's very… weak of his age," I didn't want to mention that he also had cancer. It wasn't something I shared with just anybody.

I shortly glanced at Edward again. His eyes were smoldering. I felt my cheeks turn hot, and looked at my hands, while my heartbeat quickened.

"What about your brother?" his voice was curious. It was like I couldn't tell him enough about me. And it made me wonder why he never told me about himself.

I laughed again. "My brother is two and a half years younger than me, sweet in the extreme but a little childish sometimes. And he's taller than me." That fact made me grimace. I was the older sister and my younger brother was already taller than me. It was pretty annoying. "But he's still one of my best friends," and that was true. We had often talked about stuff we couldn't talk to our friends about – like how annoying or father could be sometimes.

We sat a while without saying anything, before I remembered about the trip to the Indian reservation. I hesitated for a long time before I said anything. I knew what I was about to do was stupid, but my promise was half broken already. Besides, I could ask him as a friend, right?

"So, are you going this Saturday? To the beach, I mean," I hoped that I didn't sound too hopeful.

Edward's facial expression changed so fast, I almost didn't catch it. "I don't think I was invited," he probably remembered Mike's reaction in the office.

I sighed, and got a bit shocked by this. It made me sound interested – in non-friend-like terms. The corner of Edward's mouth turned into a smile, but I pretended like I hadn't noticed it.

_This was a bad idea! _the voice in my mind screamed at me. But my mouth ignored it, "I just invited you." Why did Edward Cullen have to be so damn interesting?

"What beach are you all going to, exactly?" he looked expressionless out of the windshield.

"The name was something like '_La Push_'," I wasn't sure if I pronounced it right.

Edward shortly looked annoyed, but then he was his playful self again. "Let's you and I not push poor Mike too far. We wouldn't want him to snap," he smiled his irresistible crooked smile.

It felt like my heart did a somersault. I liked the thought of "you and I" more than I should. Much more than I should.

We again sat in silence, and I felt very awkward for not saying anything. Smalltalk had never been my strong side. "Um... aren't you going to tell me about your family?" I insecurely managed to say. Why did I have to be extremely bad at starting conversations?

"What do you want to know?" his face seemed careless but his eyes looked cautious. Was there something he didn't want me to know?

"Dr. Cullen and his wife adopted you?

"Yes."

I thought about what else I could ask about. "What actually happened to your parents?"

"They died many years ago," his tone was matter-of-fact.

"I'm sorry," I had made him remember something painful. What a friend I was.

"But that was a long time ago. I don't really remember them that clearly. Carlisle and Esme have been my parents for a very long time now," he sounded really proud when he spoke of his foster parents.

"You really love them, don't you?" he looked so happy when he spoke of them. It couldn't be different.

"I couldn't imagine two kinder people on earth," he smiled, and sounded proud again.

"What about your siblings?"

He shortly glanced at the clock at the dashboard, before he said anything again. "My siblings are going to be very angry with me, if they have to wait for me in the rain."

"Oh! I'm so sorry. I'm keeping you here," my body didn't move an inch, even though I wanted it too.

"That's okay."

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow," I friendly said and was about to open the passenger door.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," I instantly froze and slowly turned around to face him again.

"Why?" my voice came out sadder than I had intended. Edward shortly smiled, but then turned serious.

"Emmet and I are starting the weekend early," Right. The Cullen's were known for their many camping trips.

"What are you going to do?" I acted curious, and hoped that Edward didn't see through me. Actually I didn't want to know, all I wanted to do was sulk. _Which is stupid! _my mind screamed at me, for the millionth time today, I guessed.

"We're going to be hiking in the Goat Rocks Wilderness, just south of Rainier," he sounded a little annoyed – as if he regretted making plans. Did he want to be with me instead? My intuition around boys was usually really bad – so I thought that couldn't be the case.

"Have fun there," I sounded overly enthusiastic, and Edward noticed. The corners of his mouth twitched upwards.

I got out of the car and started moving towards the house, when I heard Edward calling again.

"Michelle!" I turned around. "Could you do me a favor this weekend?" his eyes were like butter. Even through the rain I could see it. And, like the idiot I was, I gave him what he wanted.

"Okay," I answered him, dazzled.

"Would you try not to fall into the ocean or down a cliff?" his eyes were intense.

I felt how my facial expression turned hard and I snorted. As if I was going to fall into the ocean or down a cliff. I was absolutely not clumsy.

"It's just because you seem like a magnet for accidents," he was playful again.

"I'll see what I can do," my voice was as cold as I felt. I was definitely not a magnet for accidents – okay, Tyler's van had moved towards me like I had been a magnet, but that didn't mean it would happen again. I was the _luckiest_ person in the world.

_Who would wish she could be unlucky just once in a while, _my mind sadly thought.

Even through the rain I noticed Edward's smile in the side mirror. I turned towards the house and heard his car drive away. Then I walked towards the front door, grabbed the key – which was lying in a pot plant – and unlocked the door. I put the key back and went inside. I took off my raincoat and my shoes, left my bag on the floor and walked into the kitchen to grab the phone and call Nicole. School would be over by now, and I wanted her to know that I was home already.

The story behind that, I didn't need to tell her. At least not right now.


	11. Chapter 10: True Stories

**10. True Stories**

I didn't really look forward to Friday. Why did he have to start the weekend early? Why did my heart have to care about him so much?

I hated that my heart was so open to everyone. Of course, there were people I couldn't stand, and such, but I couldn't take that my heart let others come so close to it so easily.

English with Nicole was the only positive thing about my Friday. She helped me through the hour, while I was absolutely lost in my thoughts.

_My depressing thoughts._ Sigh.

Music went fine. I luckily didn't have to sing, or else Miss Jason would probably have heard the sadness in my voice.

In Trig Jessica started asking me about the previous day. "So, what did Edward Cullen want yesterday?"

"I actually don't know," I answered her truthfully. "He never really got to the point."

She didn't look pleased by this information – she had probably hoped for something more 'gossip-like'. "Well, you sort of looked mad," she tried to fish.

"Did I?" I purposely played stupid. My mood wasn't really for Jessica-gossip bag right now.

"I've never seen him sit with others than his family before. It was weird."

"Yes, weird," I agreed. Jessica impatiently flipped her dark curls.

It had been about the same, as Nicole had questioned me at home. I had told her that Edward and I really hadn't talked of anything special. But I _had _had to tell her about Biology, and how Edward had been nice enough to drive me home.

Nicole's mouth had hung open in astonishment, but had eventually said "There's more than friendship behind _that_."

I had slightly blushed and contradicted her, "He just wants to be my friend."

German didn't go very well either. I wasn't paying attention at all. At least ten times I was asked something, without even noticing that it was me Mrs. Traube was talking to. Luckily I knew the answers, when she was so kind to repeat the questions. The rest of the day didn't go any better. And when I glanced at Edward's table at lunch, there were only sitting three people. My mood turned to the worse.

I hoped he would be there in Biology, but he didn't show up there either. If my heart had been a hollow place before, that was nothing in comparison to the emptiness I felt now. I sat down at _our _table and tried to pay attention. But that was a lost cause. Luckily, Mr. Banner didn't question me at all through the lesson, so I could just sit and look glum.

After class, Mike asked me if there was something wrong. I just answered him that I was a little homesick.

After Gym, which had been tolerable, Nicole and I drove home to do some homework together. Or, at least I tried to do so.

"Michelle what's wrong with you? You've been all glum today!" she looked so worried, and I sighed at her concern.

"I'm fine. It's just a little homesickness," I didn't look at her as I said this.

She just shortly shook her head, as if I had missed something, but then looked trivially at her papers again. Of course I knew that she was only trying to help me, but there wasn't really a way back from this. I had almost broken my promise – but I had to pretend like I hadn't. From this Monday I would ignore him again. For my own good. Even _he _had said it would be better for me not to be his friend – but surely out of different reasons than me.

This couldn't continue without leading me into depression. If I, on the other side, started to ignore him, I would surely feel better after some time. It was just getting over him.

But I had never felt anything like this before. I _had_ tried to be attracted to a guy and thought I had been in love. And that had passed after some time. Yet, I wasn't sure what it was this time. I only hoped it was just an attraction...

Nicole woke me up on Saturday. We had decided to sleep in her room, so we would both be able to get up in time.

"Good morning sleepyhead. Who's the owl now?" she had woken me with.

I laughed. "Yes, I'm astonished too!" I probably hadn't slept as much as Nicole. My mind had been occupied with how it was best to break the news through to Edward. And my conclusion had been that it would be the best, if I just told him the truth.

Well, not _all _of it. And what would I say? "_Hey Edward, I think I'm falling for you so we can't see each other anymore. Bye!_"

Yep, that would be quite the ice breaker.

Nicole let me use the bathroom first, and I quickly showered. The hot water was just what I needed – it made me even more confident in what _had _to happen.

I let the comb move through my hair and decided that it actually looked tolerable. Even though it didn't look perfect – there were a few hairs that wouldn't stop sticking out. Right then Nicole came in and started to smile. "Michelle, how do you manage to look _so_ great?" she asked me. I just thought I looked like my plain self. And that wasn't really pretty.

"Nicole, I'm looking like myself. With the exception of my uncontrollable hair," I showed her this by holding out a lock for her to see.

She just shook her head. "Michelle you always look fantastic. Or is it only your personality that you think the guys here are falling for?"

I blushed and looked to the ground. No boys in Denmark had ever complimented me on my looks. Well, maybe except for my ex-boyfriend. But I wasn't even sure about that anymore.

"Michelle, you _are _pretty!" she sounded very definite. I could only bashfully look at her.

"I don't know..." I answered her and bit my lower lip. It was becoming quite a habit now.

Nicole smiled again. "Well, you are," she said in a solemn voice. "And I'm going to make you even prettier." her eyes were full of excitement.

"What are you thinking about?" my voice rose an octave. She just laughed.

"Wait and see," she rummaged a bit through her cupboard, but eventually found what she was looking for. Then she walked over to me, and told me to sit down on the bathtub.

"Okay?" I had a feeling about what she was going to do to me, and I was right. She was going to put mascara on my eyelashes. I normally didn't wear makeup, but I could as well make an exception today.

After Nicole was done I went to look myself in the mirror, and gasped. I had anticipated that my long lashes would have gotten even longer, but instead they were only a little more colorful. It looked really great.

"Told you that you'd like it," Nicole smugly said. And the only thing I could do was look at my eyes in amazement. Suddenly Nicole laughed very loudly behind me.

"What?" I asked her, without turning around.

"I don't think Mike's going to get his eyes off you at all today," she snickered. "Maybe you'll take his very breath away!"

I giggled too. "Maybe he'll die running out of air. That would teach him something," we both laughed at my sarcastic joke.

Afterwards I went into my room and noticed that the light was somehow different, brighter. The corners of my mouth automatically started forming into a smile, and I walked over to my window to pull aside the curtains.

The sun was shining.

For a moment I forgot that I wasn't in Denmark. It amazed me that the sun was at about the same place in the sky, here in Forks. But even though there were clouds ringing the horizon, it didn't affect my good mood.

The sun was shining! In Forks!

When I was finally able to walk away from the window, I decided to change my choice of clothes for the day. Instead of my black jeans and my gray tank top, I would be wearing my knee-length, waist-high black skirt with white polka-dots, black leggings and a long-sleeved, flowery purple sweater. It was probably a little old-fashioned, but I still loved it. My philosophy was to stand out. And my choice of clothes usually did. It wasn't because I was searching for attention, but I liked to stand out in my choice of clothes – be the only one to own something.

I briefly glanced at myself in my pocket mirror, before putting it into my purse and walking out of my room.

Someone was gasping in front of me. I looked up in surprise, to find Nicole with a camera in her hands. "Oh my God, you look so cute!" she quickly took a picture and then said, "Now you look like yourself from when I was in Denmark." she smiled.

"Thank you," I lightly flushed and Nicole took another picture.

"Enough with the pictures! You know I'm not very photogenic," I covered my head with my hands.

Nicole only shook her head, and we walked down into the dining room, where we found both Erik and Judith sitting by the laid table.

"Good morning girls!" Judith happily said. "I've made you a large lunch basket, so you won't die of hunger at the beach. And you'll need to eat breakfast too, of course," she smiled at us.

Erik sat in the chair at the end of the table and read today's newspaper. He shortly glanced up at Judith and smiled as she was talking to us. I couldn't help but notice _how _he looked at her. It made me think about how I had forbidden myself that pleasure. And I knew why – there was no one in the world destined for me, because I would never find them. I almost sighed.

"Thanks mom," Nicole said and took her seat at the table. I followed her example.

After breakfast, Nicole grabbed the lunch basket, we ran to our rooms to grab our jackets and slipped into Nicole's car.

Newton's Olympic Outfitters was in the northern part of town. I had never been there myself but Nicole had. Mike had been arranging trips to the Indian reservation La Push, before.

When Nicole and I got out of the car, I purposely noticed people's reaction to my looks. Eric and Tyler smiled and waved, two other boys I had class with shortly glanced at me, Jessica looked as if she didn't want to look at me, Angela smiled warmly, three other girls eyed me scornfully and a girl named Lauren Mallory scowled at me.

It confirmed – but only a little – what Nicole had said about me being pretty. Still, I could only accuse my choice of clothes to be the cause of people's stares.

"You came!" I heard Mike say, and saw him coming towards me in shorts and a T-shirt. It made me feel all overdressed.

"Sure. I couldn't leave Nicole alone with you guys," I teased.

"You look great," he pointed at my outfit.

"Um, thanks," I nervously grabbed a lock of my hair with my right hand. I wasn't really used to getting compliments about my looks. Especially not when they came from guys.

I suddenly heard someone walk towards us, to stand beside me. "Do you want to drive with me, Michelle?" Nicole's voice broke the awkward silence.

"Sure," I turned around and went into Nicole's Citroen again. A guy named Lee had brought two extra people, but there were still a surplus of cars. Nicole's Citroen, Mike's Suburban, Tyler's 'new' Sentra and Lee's minivan were all at disposal, so there weren't sitting that many in each car. Angela came to sit in Nicole's car, and then we followed Mike's car to the beach.

I sat in my own world, when we started to drive. Mike was really nice and funny, but he was too puppy-like for my taste. I had a tendency of falling for shy and smart guys, but I had promised myself never to fall for a guy again. And Mike was more a friend than anything else. The fact the he liked me made things really complicated. How was I ever going to have a normal conversation with him, without it getting awkward?

"Have you ever been to the beach before?" Angela friendly asked me. I had joined her on the backseat, just to be polite. I didn't want her to sit back there all alone – and Nicole was driving anyway.

"Not this one. But in Denmark I have." I remembered the grass that was lying about 300 feet before the sand stretched out on the entire beach. I remembered the feeling of sand between my toes, the sound of the waves. I saw the long plains of sandy-green grass with trees and bushes. I almost shed a tear of remembering this.

"That's great. I'm sure you'll like this one, then." Angela didn't say more on the entire trip, which I really appreciated. She wasn't like Jessica, who had to fill out the silence. Angela probably used it to think things through. Just like me.

We arrived at the beach and I was met by the most incredible sight. The water at the beach was dark gray and white-capped. The waves gently washed upon the coast, while Islands rose out water, their sheer cliff sides reaching to uneven summits, crowned with dark green, austere and soaring firs.

Most of the beach was decorated with large, smooth stones and only the absolute outer part of the beach had a thin border of actual sand. I had never seen a beach like this one, but it was absolutely beautiful. And that in its own way.

Mike led us to a ring of driftwood logs, which looked like they had been used for parties like ours before.

I sat down with Nicole and Angela on one of the logs. We didn't talk with each other, but glanced at the beach instead. Its beauty was absolutely fascinating.

After a while Nicole and Angela went with the boys to collect wood for a fire that would be lit in the middle of the circle. And after collecting enough to actually lit a fire, Mike came to sit beside me, which didn't please Jessica at all.

"Have you ever seen a driftwood fire?" he asked me.

""No, I don't think so. Why?" I had seen a fire before, if that was what he meant.

"Then I think you'll like this," he just said. "Notice the colors."

I looked at the building fire and was strangely surprised. "It's blue!"

"Yeah. The salt does it. Pretty isn't it?"

I nervously stoke a lock of my hair behind my right ear. Something told me there could have been a double meaning behind the word 'pretty'. But of course that could have just been me.

Luckily Jessica, who sat on his other side, craved his attention in that moment.

After about half an hour of 'chit-chatting' the boys wanted to see the tide pools, and Nicole tried to convince me to come with them.

"You absolutely can't miss this! The tide pools are the most beautiful thing about the entire beach!" She got me convinced, but only because most of the girls didn't want to go. They either weren't wearing the right shoes, or they were going to see them later.

The walk to the pools weren't long but we had to walk through a forest to reach our goal. I enjoyed the short hike through the forest, even though the silly giggles around me broke the silence. I would have enjoyed it more if there had been absolutely quiet. I loved the forest and its harmonious silence. And this one was even mystical because of the green light that slipped through the top of the trees.

There were a lot of roots and branches all around in the wood, and more than once I was about to stumble even though I wasn't clumsy at all. I came to the conclusion that it had something to do with Edward's warning. The more I noticed my surroundings, the clumsier I got. Sigh.

When the group finally reached the pools, my mouth opened in astonishment. It was even prettier than I had imagined. It was a rocky beach, just like the one I had left, and a small tidal wave passed us, on our way to the pools. Alongside the rocky shore I saw the tide pools, teeming with life. Nicole went to one of the biggest, and pulled me after her. I was afraid to fall in, so I sat on a rock instead.

I actually had fallen into a lake once before, but that had been at a birthday party when I was eleven. I had been walking over some very slippery earth.

Bewitched, I stared at the life in the pool underneath me. There were bouquets of anemones, twisted shells filled with crabs trying to hide in them, and a little black eel trying to wove its way through the bright green weeds. The ocean had always fascinated me, but this sight was even more amazing – it was beautiful.

Nicole joined me after some time and announced that the boys had grown hungry. I reluctantly got up from the rock and followed the others back to the beach again. I knew that if I ever visited La Push again, I would definitely pay the tide pools a visit.

When we reached the beach, Nicole started passing sandwiches to everybody. I grabbed a vegetarian one and went to the edge of the beach, just where the water hit the sand.

The waves were fighting to get to the coast, so I removed my socks and my shoes, to feel the sand under my toes and how the water hit my feet.

Carefully I closed my eyes and concentrated on feeling the harmony in the wind, the sand and the water. But instead of only feeling harmony, I felt a sudden emptiness. Even though the beach was extremely beautiful, I would have wanted to share it with Edward. But I knew that I had to ignore him, starting Monday. There wasn't any way around it, or else I would be constantly feeling depressed.

I sighed and was about to open my eyes, when I felt how the water hit my feet a bit harder than I had expected, and I was pushed backwards.

"Watch out!" a handsome, husky voice behind me exclaimed, before a pair of arms caught me.

I staggering got to my feet and turned around to thank my rescuer. He was Indian with long, glossy black hair pulled back with a rubber band at the nape of his neck. His cheekbones were high under his beautiful, silky and russet-colored skin. His eyes were dark and set above his cheekbones. He still had a hint of roundness left around his chin, and I guessed him to be about my younger brother's age, fourteen or fifteen. He was very tall, at least a head taller than me.

"Um, thank you," I shyly managed to say. I wasn't used to stumbling.

"No problem," he smiled as he answered.

I shortly glanced at the driftwood circle and noticed that more people had joined us, since I had walked to stand at the shore. The newcomers were all Native Americans in their teenage-years.

"Are you new here? I haven't seen you in the reservation before," the boy who just saved me, asked.

"In a way," I answered. "I'm Michelle." we shook hands.

"Michelle Fairytale?" he curiously asked me. Where did he know my name from?

"Yeah, that's me. How did you know my name?" I stroke a lock of my hair back my left ear, since the wind wouldn't stop blowing it into my face.

"We know many secrets here in the reservation," he laughed a husky laughter and I joined him. It _was_ quite funny. "I'm Jacob. Jacob Black." we shook hands again and I noticed that he had very sleek hands.

Where had I heard that name before?

"Wait, you're a friend of Nicole's, right?" I asked him. I was pretty sure that it was Nicole who had told me of a childhood friend named Jacob by an Indian reservation.

"Yep, that's me," he was smiling again.

"Wow. Nicole's been telling me a lot about you." I couldn't help but to smile. It was both easy and entertaining to talk to Jacob. He was someone I could easily picture myself friends with.

"Hey Jacob!" Nicole walked towards us in that moment. She smiled widely at Jacob.

"Hi, Nicole," he smiled at her too.

"I see you've met Michelle," Nicole stated, and pointed with her right hand at me.

"Yup. She fell, and someone had to catch her," he laughed and she joined him.

"Well, she does tend to do that around certain people," she tried to sound calm, but not soon after broke into a snicker.

I blushed. It wasn't funny at all. I hadn't tripped on purpose at the gym back then - and I certainly hadn't tripped on purpose this time either. It just happened.

"Well, I guess you can't help when you trip," Jacob told her to defend me. Yes, I was definitely going to be friends with him.

"Aren't you going to eat your sandwich, Michelle?" Nicole suddenly asked me.

"God! I had forgotten all about it!" I exclaimed in laughter. I took on my socks and shoes, and walked back to the others with Nicole.

While we were walking she whispered, "You have to be careful with bewitching the boys here. Even the younger ones." I sensed there was some kind of threat behind her words, but she sounded like she was joking.

"What do you mean?" I asked her. I wasn't bewitching anybody. Well, except for Mike, Eric and Tyler, but that wasn't something I couldn't handle.

"You just don't see yourself very clearly," Nicole shook her head, before she sat down on the nearest log. I sat down directly opposite of her, next to Angela, but she was going to see the tide pools, so Jacob came to sit by me.

"So, has Forks driven you mad yet?" he joked.

"Not as much as I would have thought," I answered with a smile. "I could live without the constant rain," he smiled understandingly, "but else it's not much different from Denmark. It's maybe a bit colder, but not as bad as I had thought." I suddenly remembered how much Forks actually was growing on me since Edward Cullen had become part of my life, but I pushed the though aside. There was no need to feel depressed now where the sun was actually shining – even though the clouds were about to surround it.

"How did you and Nicole actually get to know each other? She's told me about what you played and discovered when you were younger, but never how you met." it was extremely easy to talk with Jacob.

He shortly laughed before he smiling told me about how Nicole had fallen into a tide pool, when she was eight and he was six, and how he had rescued her.

"Well, I guess Nicole was lucky that you were around," I smiled at him.

"Yup," he agreed. Even though Nicole had fallen into the pools back then she was almost fearless now. _I should actually thank Jacob._

"How did _you_ actually get to know her?" Jacob asked me curiously.

"When I was thirteen I was on this fan side for Harry Potter. And there I found her." Jacob started laughing and I joined him. It was quite funny when you looked at it. "But if you count from the first time we actually saw each other, then I would say we've known each other for about eight months."

"How can that be?"

"Nicole didn't tell you?" she visited him every summer.

"She hasn't actually been around here for some time. They've been really busy with finishing the house. My dad, Billy, he's been visiting them a couple of times."

I starred a bit at the gray-blue ocean. It must have been hard for him not to see his childhood friend in over six months. Poor Jacob.

"Why didn't you go with him?" I asked just to be polite.

"He drove when I was in school, and he was only going to sell our Chevy. As long as we owned it, I couldn't build my own car." he quickly looked at the sky before he smiling looked at me.

Wow. Judith's car had really been Jacob and his dad's?

"You build cars?" I ate the last bites of my sandwich. My brother would have loved to listen to this. I would have to tell him about Jacob later.

"When I have free time, and parts," he smiled. "You wouldn't happen to know where I can find a master cylinder for a 1986 Volkswagen Rabbit?" he added jokingly.

"No, sadly I don't," I laughed too. "But I'll definitely keep a look out." as if I knew what part of a car such a thing even was. But at least he was very easy to talk to.

I shortly glanced at Nicole, who smiled widely at Jacob and then at me, from the opposite end of the fire. Lauren Mallory was sitting next to her and scowled at me.

"Do you know Michelle, Jacob?" she asked in a very insolent tone – at least it sounded like that to me.

"You could say that I know her through Nicole," Jacob laughed and smiled at me.

"How nice." Lauren didn't sound like she meant it at all, and her pale fishy eyes narrowed.

_What an unpleasant girl, _I thought. What did she have against me?

She quickly whispered something to Tyler, who was sitting to her other side, and turned her head in my direction again. "Michelle," she said while she carefully watched my face, "I just told Tyler that it was too bad that none of the Cullens could come today. Didn't anyone think to invite them?" her concerned expression seemed unreal.

I felt a twinge of pain in my heart as she said that. Why could the rest of the world not just ignore them like before I came?

"You mean Dr. Carlisle Cullen's family?" a tall Indian boy with a deep voice asked. He looked older than the rest – too old to be hanging out with a bunch of teenagers.

"Yes. Do you know them?" Lauren asked him in a very rude tone, while she only turned halfway towards him.

"The Cullens don't come here," he said in a tone that closed the subject. He had clearly ignored her question, and didn't intend on answering it either. I noticed that it had somehow sounded like they hadn't got permission to come here. What had they done since they weren't welcome in the reservation? Was that why Edward had turned my invitation down?

I tried to act like I hadn't noticed these things but the thought were swirling around in my head. There was more involved in the puzzle of Edward, than I had anticipated. How was I ever going to come to a conclusion in this?

And then suddenly it hit me. If the Cullens weren't allowed to come into La Push, then shouldn't the whole tribe know why?

I breathed in heavily before I intended to do something I had never done on purpose before in my entire life. I hoped that Jacob was still so unsure around girls, that he wouldn't notice my, without doubt, pathetic try on flirting.

"Do you want to walk down the beach with me?" I asked him, and tried to look like Edward whenever he looked up at me through his lashes. I was almost positive that I looked ridiculous, but Jacob willingly got up from his seat.

I _had_ tried to flirt before but it hadn't been on purpose. Actually, I had no idea how to flirt since I didn't know what I had done, but once a guy came over to me and wanted my phone number. Of course I hadn't given it to him, I didn't know him. Yet I knew that I somehow must have flirted with him, since I had practically looked at him a couple of times.

While Jacob and I walked, the sky grew darker and darker and the temperature dropped. Luckily I had slipped into my raincoat before we left, so I buried my hands deep into the pockets.

"So, how old are you actually? Sixteen?" I asked him with a smile, while I tried to passionately stare him into the eyes. Not very hard, when you didn't try to think about that he could be about my younger brother's age.

"I just turned fifteen," he admitted, flattered.

_Okay, only two years younger than me. _That wasn't as bad as I thought – when you didn't think about that I had a younger brother who was only half a year younger than him.

"Really?" I played surprised. "I would have thought you older."

"I'm tall for my age," he explained.

"Do you often come to Forks?" I asked with a crooked smile and carefully tried not to overplay it. I sounded like an idiot to myself.

"Not very much," the thought looked like it annoyed him. _Hmm, maybe you're a little too good at this... _I sheepishly thought.

"When I'm done with my car I could come as often as I want – and when I get my driver's license of course," he added.

I couldn't help but to naturally laugh at his comment. "Right. You get your license over here when you're sixteen."

"Yeah," he widely smiled. "How old are you actually?" he curiously asked me – the question I would rather have avoided.

"I'm sixteen," I answered with a smile, while I once again tried to stare into his eyes.

"Wow. You could actually drive a car if you wanted," he smiled even wider.

"Yup," I smiled crookedly again. _No need to tell him when I turn seventeen._

We walked a bit in silence, before I decided that it was time to try and find out more about the mystery of the Cullens. _Well, m__ostly the mystery of Edward, _I added in my thoughts.

"Who was the boy Lauren talked to just before? He seemed too old to hang out with us." I tried to flutter my eyelids like I had seen girls do it on TV. Only, I was sure that I looked like an idiot compared to them.

"Oh, that's Sam – he's nineteen," he told me.

"What was it that he said about the doctor's family?" I innocently asked, as if it didn't really interest me but I hadn't really listened back then.

"The Cullens? Oh, they're not allowed to come into the reservation." he looked at an island when he confirmed my suspicion.

"Why not?"

He looked at me again and bit his lower lip. "Ups. I'm actually not allowed to tell anybody about it."

"I won't tell anyone," I smiled crookedly, and prayed to God that it would have about the same effect as Edward's smile had on me. "I'm just curious."

He looked convinced, smiled and raised his one eyebrow. "Do you like scary stories?" his voice was even huskier than before.

"I _love_ them." I didn't even have to fake my excitement. If you liked Edgar Allan Poe, then you definitely liked stories that were a little scarier than normal. And my zodiac was a scorpion after all.

Jacob strolled to a nearby fallen tree and stood up on one of the upper roots that stuck out of it like a large twisted spider. I sat down on the body of the tree.

"Has Nicole ever told you some of our old stories about where we came from? The Quileute tribe I mean," he started.

"No, sadly not," I confessed. _But I would have loved to ask her._

"There are lots of legends, some of them even go back to the Flood– the old Quileutes should, according to legend, have tied their boats to the tallest trees on the mountain to survive like Noah and the ark," he smiled to show me how little he believed the story himself. "Another legend tells that we are descendants of the wolf – and that they are still our brothers. It's against tribal laws to kill them." He held a theatrical pause, and my curiosity had increased even more.

"Wolves? Like real wolves?"

"Yep," Jacob answered smiling. "Then there are the stories of _the cold ones_." he lowered his voice a little.

"The cold ones?" now my interest was really aroused.

"Yes. Some of the stories are as old as the legends of the wolves. Others are newer. According to legend my own great-grandfather knew some of them. It was him who made the treaty that keeps them from our lands."

"Your great-grandfather?" I curiously asked, even though the question I was bugging to ask was: _What do the Cullens have to do with the cold ones? _Okay, they had cold skin – at least Edward had – but what did that have to do with anything?

"He was tribe elder, just like my dad. You see, the cold ones are natural enemies of the wolf. Okay, not the wolves you know – but wolves that turn into humans, like our own ancestors. You would call them werewolves."

"Werewolves have enemies?" where had I heard that before?

"Only one."

I looked at him with a serious expression, consumed by what he told me. On one side I was sure that I had heard some of his story before, but on the other side this was different from anything I had ever heard before.

"Therefore," Jacob continued, "the cold ones are traditionally our enemies. But this pack that came to our territory at the time of great-grandfather was different. They didn't hunt like the rest of their kind – they weren't supposed to be dangerous to the tribe. That's why my great-grandfather made a truce with them. If they promised to keep off our lands we wouldn't expose what they really were, to the palefaces," he winked at me.

"But if they weren't dangerous, why did you great-grandfather make the treaty?" I was anxious to get to the end of the story, but the more Jacob told me, the more curious I got.

"There's always a risk for humans to be around the cold ones. Even the civilized ones – like this clan was. You never know when they get so hungry that they can't resist temptation," he deliberately worked a thick edge of menace into his tone.

I felt the goose bumps form on my arms. Where was it that I had heard all of this before?

"They hunted humans?" I asked, shocked. Okay, I took his story _way_ to seriously.

"This clan were supposedly not. They were somehow able to survive on animals instead."

"But how is that connected to the Cullens? Are they like the cold ones your great-grandfather met?" I tried to sound nonchalant but his story had done something strange to me. I felt how the bits and pieces of my strange puzzle began to fit together, while only one question remained: What were the Cullens?

"No," he hesitated dramatically. "They're _the same._"

_What?_ No person could live that long!

Jacob must have thought that I had been scared by his story, because he continued with a smile, "More have joined them since then. A new man and woman. But when my great-grandfather lived they already knew the leader Carlisle. He had lived here before and then moved again – even before _your_ people arrived." he looked like someone who was trying not to smile.

"But what were they then?" I asked in a very serious tone. "What _are _the cold ones?"

"Easy Michelle! It's just a scary story," he probably thought that my seriousness was empathy in the story. He still hadn't answered the most _crucial _question, but I knew that it would be stupid to ask him about it again.

"You're a really good storyteller, you know," I told him, while I tried to compose my features. "I even have goose bumps – see?"

"Cool," he smiled.

We sat a bit in silence, and I didn't want to compose my expression anymore, so I looked at the ocean instead. What were the Cullens? It was like that was the only question in the world that I needed answered. And where was it that I had heard some of Jacobs's tale before?

"_Werewolves have enemies?_"

"_Only one._"

But who were these enemies?

"I think I just broke the treaty," Jacob suddenly laughed.

"Don't worry – I'll take it with me to the grave," I told him and turned around to smile at him.

The sound of moving sand warned us that someone was heading our way. We both abruptly lifted our heads and saw Mike and Jessica come towards us, about 100 feet away from us.

"There you are Michelle!" Mike called in relief, and waved at me with his arm over his head.

"Is that your boyfriend?" Jacob asked, and was on his guard because Mike sounded jealous. It surprised me that it was that obvious.

I choked back my laughter, but it sounded more like a stifled snort. "Definitely _not,_" I told him, and tried not to laugh. A moment after, though, I wanted to sigh.

Jacob didn't notice my change of moods, but instead smiled an excited smile. "When I get my license..." he started.

"You should come visit us in Forks. We could hang out once." the guilt of having used Jacob came to the surface. I really liked him; he was the type I could easily be friends with. But I had to remember that he was only half a year older than my brother – and that I had just used him. Sigh.

Now Mike was had reached us, Jessica following him closely. "Where have you been?" he asked, even though the answer was just in front of him. He shortly eyed Jacob and looked pleased by his obvious young age.

"Jacob here told me some local stories," I told him. "It was really exciting." I warmly smiled at Jacob who returned the smile.

"Okay," Mike looked hesitatingly at us. He was probably measuring our comradeship. "We're packing now – it looks like it's going to rain soon," he continued.

We all glanced at the sky and saw how the clouds had swallowed the sun. It actually did look like it would start raining every moment.

"Okay, I'm coming now," I quickly got up from the tree.

"It was nice to get to know you," Jacob smiling told me and I noticed that he shot Mike a sinister look.

_Maybe you shouldn't have overdone it that much... _Sigh. I was never going to do anything like that again. Not when I was _that_ good.

"It really was," I sincerely told Jacob. "Next time Nicole visits La Push, I'm coming with her."

His smile looked like it would reach both his ears. "That would be cool."

"Thanks for the story," I added. I had meant to say it playfully but my voice had sounded serious instead.

I pushed the hood of my raincoat over my head and followed Mike back to the cars. A couple of drops were already beginning to fall and left big dark dots on the stones of the beach. When we finally reached the parking lot everyone were already loading the cars.

I crawled into the backseat of Nicole's car and was accompanied by Angela. She shortly asked me if I had had a fun trip and I sincerely told her yes – even though most of it had been more mystical than fun.

The rest of the drive home I just looked out the window, thinking. Jacob's story had left its marks in my mind, and I couldn't stop going through it, again and again, in my brain. Still, I couldn't find the most important answer to the question that was bugging me the most.

What were the Cullens?


	12. Chapter 11: Discovering the Truth

**11. Discovering the "Truth"**

When we finally reached Nicole's house; I was still deep in thought. Nicole walked beside me without saying a word. I didn't really know what was with her but I hoped it wasn't anything serious.

As we walked into the living room, we saw Eric and Judith sit in different chairs watching TV.

"So, how was the trip, girls?" Judith, who sat in a light blue armchair almost in front of the TV, asked.

"Very funny," Nicole answered a bit stiffly. "We bumped into Jacob." I noticed that she had a hard edge in her voice as she said, "we". What was wrong with her?

"How nice!" Judith exclaimed. Erik, who was sitting in a light-blue sofa, only shook his head lightly before he looked at the TV again. "You did remember to say hello from us, right?" she continued. "And thank once again for the truck, I hope."

"I almost had no chance to talk to him mom," Nicole answered. "he wouldn't stop talking to Michelle." she shortly smiled before she pointed at me. But her joy seemed false to me.

Judith shortly sighed. "Well your dad has been talking about her with Billy. Jacob must have been eager to meet his 'rival'," she winked.

"Mom, she's just a friend like _Jacob _is_ too_." there was something about the whole situation that seemed awkward.

"True, true. But I'm sure he wanted to get to know your new friend anyway," Judith shrugged before she returned to watching TV. Nicole and I walked towards our rooms.

I noticed that Nicole was sulking as I walked beside her. I felt very uneasy, but I didn't know what was wrong with her, so I decided to ask her about it. We reached our rooms, and Nicole was about to open her door, when I asked, "Nicole, what's wrong? You haven't done anything but sulking on the whole trip home," even to myself I sounded worried.

She shortly sighed before she turned around. "Don't you remember what I told you at the beach? ''D_on't bewitch the boys here. Even the younger ones._'' Don't you remember?" she shortly lost her temper, but I couldn't see why she would be like that.

"Yes," I answered her, and I was sure she could hear the confusion in my voice.

"You've already bewitched enough boys in Forks! Stop bewitching them all!" she suddenly exclaimed, and then her hand flew to her mouth.

This was all about boys?

"You know I don't do it on purpose, Nicole."

She glared at me. "Yes you did," she mumbled while she crossed her arms.

Wait, did she mean Jacob?

I blushed a little at the thought of having used him, and Nicole noticed this. She suddenly looked like she would be crying any moment from now.

What was wrong with her?

"Nicole, I didn't mean it like that," I bit my lower lip. How was I going to explain this to her without having to explain her about my attempt to find out about the Cullens? "I was just trying to persuade him to tell me a local story. I'm really sorry about that." I couldn't do anything else but look shamefully at the floor.

Nicole snorted, and I immediately looked at her. A couple of tears were falling down her cheeks. I had already told her sorry for bewitching her friend. What more could there be to this? And then suddenly it hit me – Nicole wasn't only looking for friendship with Jacob.

I took a deep breath before I said anything again. "Nicole?" I carefully started. Her eyes were hard as she wiped her tears away and looked at me.

"What now?" she sourly asked, and the sobs were clear in her voice.

"Do you like Jacob?" I asked as casual as possible.

Her expression turned surprised. "What?" her voice rose an octave and her cheeks flushed red. I felt how the corners of my mouth turned into a smile.

"I asked: Do you like Jacob?" her cheeks turned even redder and she tried to look anywhere else but at me. "Like in _really _like him?" I continued.

She looked at the ground and embarrassingly managed to mumble, "Yes." All of her face was red now.

I tried to disguise my stifled laughter as coughing. Nicole looked up to scowl at me, but her face was still bright scarlet. Then I couldn't keep my facade and laughed. Nicole blushed even more even though it probably shouldn't be possible.

When I could finally breathe again, Nicole was starring at the floor once more.

"So you like Jacob?" I asked her again. It was almost too unfathomable to comprehend.

"Yes," she mumbled at the floor.

"How much?" I curiously asked her. I could as well help her find together with Jacob – the same way she had promised to help me with not falling in love again. Something that had happened anyway. Sigh.

"I–I actually don't know..." she hectically looked at the stairs behind us, so I took her hand and dragged her into my room.

"How much?" I asked her once more as we were sitting on the edge of my bed.

"Um..." she hesitated. "It's probably not true love..." she sighed.

I smiled. Nicole deserved true love – her heart was purer and less scarred than mine. "Give him some time to grow up," I suggested. "Then you can show him how you feel."

She smiled at me. "Thanks," and then she hugged me warmly.

"Unless he, of course, finds out himself," I added with a glimpse in my eyes. Nicole blushed. "But just give him some time," I repeated. "And I'm very sorry for what I did. If I had known you liked him, I would have never tried."

She accepted my apology, and quietly walked out of my room. "The surprise for soon has to be finished," she told me before she closed the door behind her.

I fell backwards and onto my bed. That talk – and the whole day in fact – had drained my energy. How was my brain ever going to solve the mystery of Edward, when I was so exhausted?

I sighed and got out of the bed. It would be wiser not to sleep things over now. If I did that it would probably raise more questions than answers.

I hadn't noticed that I had walked over to the shelf, and shortly looked at my books. If I was too tired to try and think, I might as well read a book. My hands slid across the back of the books while I closed my eyes. When I stopped my hand and opened my eyes, I sighed.

_Edgar Allan Poe. _More gruesome tales.

I grabbed the book, sat down by my desk, turned on the desk lamp and opened the book at a random page.

**To F_s S. O_d**

_Thou wouldst be loved? – then let thy heart _

_From it's present pathway part not!_

_Being everything which now thou art, _

_Be nothing which thou art not._

_So with the world thy gentile ways,_

_Thy grace, thy more than beauty,_

_Shall be an endless theme of praise,_

_And love – a simple duty.  
_

I quickly turned the page. That poem didn't help my feelings at all. On the contrary – it made it all worse.

**The Haunted Palace**

_In the greenest of our valleys_

_By good angels tenanted,  
_

Wait, _angels_? I quickly read on.

_Once a fair and stately palace –_

_Radiant palace – reared its head._

_In the monarch Thought's dominion,_

_It stood there!_

_Never seraph spread a pinion_

_Over fabric half so fair!  
_

Why did this poem remind me so much of the Cullen's? Every single thought about them was flowing through me right now.

_Banners yellow, glorious, golden,  
_

I remembered Edward's golden eyes and sighed.

_On its roof did float and flow_

_(This – all this – was in the olden_

_Time long ago),_

_And every gentile air that dallied,_

_In that sweet day,_

_Along the ramparts plumed and pallid,_

_A wingéd odor went away.  
_

This somehow made me think of the first day in Biology. The way Edward had wrinkled his nose, as if he'd smelled something unpleasant. What could that have been? Me?

I doubted that. My lemon-shampoo smelled rather good.

_Wanderers in that happy valley,_

_Through two luminous windows, saw_

_Spirits moving musically,  
_

Well, all of the Cullen's moved very gracefully. But why did this poem make me think of this? I wanted to read – not to think! Yet I felt like I came closer to the answer, the more I read.

_To a lute's well-tunéd law,_

_Round about a throne were, sitting,_

_Porphyrogene,_

_In state his glory well befitting,_

_The ruler of the realm was seen._

_And all with pearl and ruby glowing_

_Was the fair palace door,_

_Through which came flowing, flowing, flowing,_

_And sparkling evermore,_

_A troop of Echoes, whose sweet duty_

_Was but to sing,_

_In voices of surpassing beauty,  
_

Well, Edward had a musical voice too – one that could make your heart beat faster, if he started talking with a voice like melting honey...

I quickly shook my head and read on.

_The wit and wisdom of their king._

_But evil things, in robes of sorrow,_

_Assailed the monarch's high estate._

_(Ah, let us mourn! – for never morrow_

_Shall dawn upon him, desolate!)_

_A round about his home the glory_

_That blushed and bloomed,_

_Is but a dim-remembered story_

_Of the old time entombed.  
_

That made me think of Jacob's story again. How his great-grandfather made the treaty, but how the memories of it still were there – yet somehow dimmer than before. At least to the newer generation, like Jacob. They didn't really believe in that stuff anymore.

_And travellers now, within that valley,_

_Through the red-litten windows see_

_Vast forms that move fantastically_

_To a discordant melody,_

_While, like a ghastly rapid river_

_Through the pale door_

_A hideous throng rush out forever,_

_And laugh – but smile no more.  
_

I sat some time without looking away from the page. This poem fit my feelings about the mystery of Edward perfectly, but it didn't help one bit in solving anything. It just summed up the qualities I had already found out about!

I sighed.

Then I took a notebook and a pencil and started writing the most important phrases from the poem:

_**By good angels tenanted,**_

_**Banners yellow, glorious, golden,**_

_**A winged odor went away,**_

_**Spirits moving musically,**_

_**Was but to sing, in voices of surpassing beauty,  
**_

I shortly looked at what I had written, and sighed once more. It just summed everything up. It wasn't bearable!

Angry, I threw the book into my bed and walked to the shelf again. Maybe it would be better if I watched a movie. I went through the different titles before choosing "Interview with the Vampire", but ten minutes into the movie the thoughts of Edward and his family were back in my mind. I turned off the TV and put back the movie. Then I walked over to my bed, took the Edgar Allan Poe book and put it back on the desk. Then I walked back to my bed, found my iPod from under my pillow and played "Clair de Lune". Maybe a little music would help my theories on the way – or at least help me relax a little.

I sat down on the edge of the bed and thought through everything:

Edward was extremely pale, his skin was hard and cold, his eyes changed color, he was smart and fast, he wasn't allowed to come into the reservation La Push – just like the rest of his family – he was one of _the cold ones _– whatever that was.

The cold ones... did that have something to do with Edward's skin being cold? Did his siblings have cold skin too?

I suddenly remembered that he never seemed to eat anything. That reminded me of another thing Jacob had told me.

"_They hunted humans?_"

"_This clan were supposedly not. They were somehow able to survive on animals instead._"

Hunt people – hunt animals... what did all of that mean?

I thought about my dream from some time ago – the one where Edward had had blood-red eyes. Could it have something to do with this? And if it had, what did it mean? Did my subconsciousness know something that my conscious mind hadn't figured out yet?

I groaned and threw myself, head first, on my bed.

"_Werewolves have enemies?_"

"_Only one._"

I almost jumped out of the bed again. The answer had been right in front of my eyes all this time! It was so logical!

I almost threw myself at the shelf again, ignoring my iPod as it fell down on the ground. My hands eagerly moved past all the movie titles, until I found the one that I was looking for. "Underworld".

The answer had been in front of me all time! I had even known it from the first time Edward touched my hand, but I hadn't noticed that I knew. My unconscious mind had given me little clues instead. And in trying so hard to figure it out, I had ignored those little clues.

I quickly put the movie into the DVD-player, sat on the floor and listened to the female lead, introducing the movie with the following words:

"_The war had all but ground to a hold, in the blink of an eye._

_Lucian, the most feared and ruthless leader ever to rule the Lycan-clan, had finally been killed._

_The Lycan horde scattered to the wind, in a single evening of flame and retribution._

_Victory, it seemed, was in our grasp. The very birthright of the __**Vampires**__._"

I paused the movie. Could Edward be a..._vampire_?

It would explain a lot if he was. It was the most... no not rational explanation, but the most logical one – if you looked past the mythology in it.

I went through it all once more in my mind: Edward was extremely fast – which vampires were said to be. His skin was cold and hard – since they were the 'living dead'. But the hardness, I guessed, had to come from their skin being stretched when they 'died'. Almost like a face-lift.

Next was the changing eye-color. In "Underworld" their eyes turned blue or green whenever they were excited or had just been drinking blood. What could be the cause of Edward's changing eye-color? Humans didn't normally have golden eyes, like topaz. But I knew I was going to find out, eventually.

If Edward really was a... vampire.

Just by thinking the word, an electric current flew through my body. It was so exciting that I couldn't sit still. _I_, Michelle, had found a coven full of living vampires. Again the current flew through me.

I got up from the floor and started pacing up and down the room. In my mind this new information was already being thought through again.

Edward was extremely strong – he could lift a van – which I was pretty sure a vampire was able to do. Then there were other things I remembered. Things from the legends I already knew by heart – thanks to the fact that I was writing a story about a half vampire girl. They couldn't walk into the sunlight – not that the sun was shining brightly here in Forks, but it surprised me that Edward and his family could be outside when it was still day, and not night. Maybe it was only the light of the sun that burned their skin.

But if they were out during the day, when did they sleep? Vampires – once again a shock ran through my body – were supposed to sleep all day, while humans slept at night. Did that mean that the Cullens had turned around their sleeping pattern?

I knew it from myself; I had turned it around by coming to Forks. So, it was possible for humans, but how was it possible for vampires?

Then there were the myths of crucifixes, stakes through their hearts, holy water, coffins. _Maybe I should try and wear a cross on Monday, just to see if he shies away from me. _I laughed out loud at the thought. I would love to see that.

Suddenly someone knocked on my door, and I started with fright. "Come in," I said, a little out of breath.

In the door came Judith and told that dinner was ready. I had to get downstairs and, leaving my speculations until the next day.


	13. Chapter 12: Decision

**12. Decision**

I didn't sleep very much that night.

Actually, I was restless until about 1:00 AM where I finally went to sleep. But the dream that met me wasn't really a pleasant one.

I was at the beach in La Push again but it was raining, and I could clearly feel how I slowly got drenched. As I looked down at myself, I noticed that I was only wearing a knee-length, white summer dress with straps. When I looked up again I saw the sun setting in the horizon, but it wouldn't stop raining. I started heading for the forest to search for cover, but didn't get far before I saw Jacob running out of it.

"Run Michelle!" he yelled with an expression of horror on his face.

"Why?" I couldn't see anyone or anything I should be afraid of.

"Michelle you have to run!" he screamed once again, and then he ran past me. I stared after him in astonishment, when I suddenly heard a low growl behind me. Slowly, I turned around.

In the clearing of the forest stood none other than Edward – well hidden in the shadows.

We stood a while like that, only starring at each other. Him, with a smug smile, and me with an amazed – and probably trustful – expression.

His skin began to glow, the darker it got. When I was finally sure it was night, I felt the moonlight shine on my bare skin. But I didn't look to check it. I couldn't risk looking away from Edward to find that he was just a dream.

Then he calmly walked towards me. My heart began beating faster and my brain screamed at me to get a grip. When he reached me, my body automatically made me walk one step backwards.

"Trust me," he whispered and I got a short glimpse of his fangs. He walked closer, but I could only stand there, nailed to the spot. When he was standing just inches from me he smiled and I clearly saw his sharp teeth.

I knew I should be afraid but there was no fear in me. My eyes could only stare trustful into his.

His right hand, tenderly stroke my cheek and the blood boiled under his cold touch. Then he leaned his face closer to mine, and my heart began to race. I heard a quiet growl behind me.

When his lips were less than inches from mine, my breathing came out in gasps, because I was hyperventilating. Then I closed my eyes.

But his lips never met mine. Instead I felt how his head lowered and moved towards my neck, and his cold breath touched my throat. My breathing quickened even more, but I didn't move an inch. I knew that he wouldn't do anything to me. I trusted him.

As his lips were millimeters from my throat, a high growl sounded and I felt how Edward disappeared from my side. I opened my eyes in fright and saw a big red-brown wolf throw itself at Edward.

"NO!"

I fell out of my bed and to the floor with a loud bump. Perplexed I got up and tried to clear my thoughts. What had I just dreamed?

Nicole suddenly opened the door and stuck in her head. "What's wrong? You were screaming." she asked with a worried voice.

"I had a nightmare," I shortly explained.

"Oh, okay." she shrugged before she came into my room. "Is it anything you want to talk about?"

I blushed and looked to the floor. It was probably best to keep the information about Edward being a vampire, to myself – if it even was the truth. _And if you don't want to spend the rest of your life in a straitjacket,_ I added in my thoughts.

"You don't need to tell me if you don't want to. It's just if it'll make you feel better." I looked up again and saw that Nicole sat on the edge of the bed. I sat down beside her.

Quietly, I sighed before I told her about my dream – purposely leaving out the fact about Edward's teeth. I only told her that it had been night and a wolf had attacked him as he tried to kiss my throat.

Unfortunately, I blushed every time I mentioned Edward, just because it made me remember how close I had been to kissing him in my dream.

Nicole only looked at me with a thoughtful expression. She looked like she was deep in thought. And when she finally said something, it made me blush even more. "I think the wolf was a reminder of the promise you made to yourself. When it threw itself at Edward, it was to create distance between you." But I knew better – it had been one of the wolves from La Push, trying to protect me from the vampire Edward. But instead of telling her, I nodded and she continued, "And the fact that you let him come that close to you, is maybe a sign about what you feel for him right now?" she looked questioning at me.

My face could only flush with embarrassment. I wasn't sure about what I felt for him – even though he was a vampire.

"But what do I know," she tried to lighten the mood by being playful. I tried to smile as convincing as I could manage.

"Do you actually know what time it is?" I asked her after a while.

For a moment her face turned tired and she yawned, "It's only half past four."

My eyes widened. Half past four in the morning! "I'm really sorry, Nicole!" I started but she cut me off.

"It doesn't matter. You couldn't know," she got up and smiled at me. "But at least now you feel better." and then she went into her own room again.

I threw myself, head first, onto my bed and let the thoughts swirl in my head. Of course I knew that the wolf too was a symbol for the distance I should create – I _had _to create. Even though Edward was a vampire, I had to ignore him. It was like he had told me; he was dangerous. If I was smart, I'd keep away from him.

But could I ignore him? Was I in love with him or was it just a little 'crush'? An attraction?

I didn't know what it was at this point, but I knew that it was bigger than anything I had ever felt before. And if I didn't put an end to it now, then I would surely end with a bleeding heart once again...

Immediately tears started forming in my eyes – I didn't want to stop it, I knew that. But it would be better if I did. Much, much better for my heart.

An image from my dream appeared in my mind. It was Edward touching my cheek and leaning towards me. How my heart longed for it actually to happen! But I knew that it would only happen in my dreams. Edward would never like me that way, and then I would get hurt if I didn't begin to ignore him again.

I let out a sigh, followed by a few sobs, before I pulled the carpet over me and closed my eyes. But I couldn't sleep...

When the clock struck six I couldn't lie in my bed anymore. Instead I got up, went into the bathroom and showered. Then I went into my room again and picked an outfit I would never wear in public: a pair of sweat pants and one of my _way _to big T-shirts my brother had given to me. Then I started on an essay for English about _Macbeth_, a paper that was due Wednesday.

But I couldn't concentrate and didn't spend a very long time by my computer, before I got restless again. I couldn't keep the thoughts about Edward, his family, vampires and the treaty that kept them from La Push, out of my head. I knew that if I didn't come to a conclusion in this, I would never be able to concentrate again.

I quickly wrote two notes, both with the same message:

**Going for a walk in the forest. I'm home at about lunch time.**

**Michelle  
**

Then I put one note outside Nicole's room and outside her parents. I grabbed my raincoat, took on my rubber boots and walked out the front door. I needed to collect my thoughts, and the woods were the only place I could think of that could possible help me with hat.

It wasn't raining yet but it was a little foggy, and the clouds looked a little threatening as they were floating past me. I sighed as I walked into the forest. To not get lost, I carefully followed the path while I let the thoughts swirl in my head. They didn't really make any sense, and I groaned in frustration.

I started to walk with firmer steps, when I suddenly noticed a fallen tree that I could sit on. It wasn't far from the path, only about three feet, and I saw that it wasn't all cowered in moss.

Carefully I sat down on the tree and concentrated on every thought in my head – without any form of control over what I was thinking. The two most important questions immediately popped into my head, and I decided that it would be best to concentrate on the first.

I had discovered that Edward as a vampire. And still there was a part of me that didn't believe it. Vampires didn't exist.

_But what if they do?_ I gave again. _What if the world is full of them, but we just haven't noticed them yet?_

I couldn't help myself but to loudly snort. It was completely ridiculous to think about. The rational me – the one influenced by my scientific father – told me that I was on the wrong track. _He_ couldn't be a vampire – his family couldn't be vampires. It was impossible.

_How else do you explain that you're alive now?_ My mind asked me. _How will you explain that you're not a human squishy right now?_

I shortly sighed, but then summed up what I had discovered: the incredible speed and strength, the changing eye color from golden to dark and back again, the inhuman beauty, the cold, pale skin, the way they all were able to move incredibly graceful.

Other small bits and pieces that I hadn't really given much thought, suddenly seemed to appear in my mind: that they supposedly never ate, the way they dressed – something I hadn't even noticed until now – they were extremely well-dressed, always in something that seemed to be the newest fashion – but what did I know. And then there was the way _he_ sometimes spoke. It wasn't something that belonged in a High School class in the twenty-first century – but more from a turn-of-the-century novel. Almost Jane Austen-like, but still a little younger.

He had ditched Biology the day of the blood-typing, he hadn't said no to my invitation before he knew where we were going, he seemed to know what everyone around him was thinking...

Wait, he knew what people around him were thinking?

Well, he had mentioned that he generally found people easy to read.

"_Except for me, of course._"

"_Yes. Except for you,_"he had said."_With exceptions._"

With exceptions... what did that mean? If it was so easy for him to read other people, what was it about me that made it so difficult?

Then there was that he had warned me to stay away from him. He had said that he was dangerous, a villain...

Could he really be a vampire? Could all of his family be vampires?

Both his sister Alice and his brother Jasper had looked curiously at me, as if there was something about me. I couldn't see what that was – actually I couldn't understand why Edward suddenly started talking to me at all. No one in his family, including himself, had ever talked to anyone before.

What was so special about me?

I halfheartedly laughed and shook my head, before I continued with my train of thoughts. Could they _really_ be vampires?

They were _something_. Something inhuman – something not rational that happened in my tiny world. Something I had longed to be true, since I had found out that I liked vampire stories.

That had to be my conclusion – for now. Edward wasn't human; he was something more. Vampire or superhero. Or Jacob's 'cold ones'. There was something about him.

My heart began to beat faster as I moved on to the next question: What if Edward was a... vampire? Should I ignore him? Or should I try to find out more about him? Or... – I swallowed – should I break my promise and find out what I really felt for him?

The answer wasn't an easy one. I didn't know if I had the strength to ignore him anymore. I didn't know if it would hurt more to ignore him, or find out that he didn't like me – both equally hurt.

But should I try to find out more about him? If there even was more to be discovered. All of the Cullens were perfect in school, not one failed test, not one wrong answer to a question. It was almost like they had already gone through it all before.

It reminded me of what Jacob had told me about them already living at the time of his great-grandfather. Could Edward really have lived back then? If so, how old was he really?

I pushed the thought away and moved on with my thoughts.

I felt how my mood turned to the worse as I got to the next question. Should I break the promise I had given myself and find out what I really felt for Edward?

Spontaneously my answer was no, but the more I thought about it, the more it hurt in my heart. I couldn't grasp how he had bewitched me like that, but I was sure that there had to be more than his pretty looks behind it. I sighed.

But if Edward really was a _vampire_, what should I then do? Tell somebody was unthinkable – not even to Nicole. Anyone would have me hospitalized, even though I was pretty sure Nicole would never do that to me.

But what was I supposed to do then?

I didn't know how strong I would be to ignore him – but I had already gone through that, without really coming to a conclusion.

But should I cancel our plans? Should I follow his advice? Stay away from him? If he was a... _vampire_?

It hurt to think about it, no matter what he was. He had almost captured my heart, but he had told me it was better if I stayed away from him.

I sighed and breathed heavily through my nose and afterwards through my mouth, before deciding anything. I needed every brain cell of mine to decide this.

My brain hesitated a second, while my heart started arguing about what I would miss if I didn't listen to what it told me.

But in the end, my brain won anyway.

I would continue as planned, and ignore him from the next day. Even though he had said that he was evil he hadn't done anything yet... but I needed the distance. And I needed to keep my promise. If I didn't, I would probably end up getting a depression. He didn't like me that way.

I closed my eyes and sighed.

"_It would be better if we weren't friends,_"he had once said.

My eyes opened in horror. I suddenly new why he wanted me to ignore him. He knew how absorbed I was by him, more than I should be, and he didn't like me that way. Exactly like I had feared.

I had to ignore him, starting Monday – there was no way around it.

I quickly got up from the tree and started walking towards the house. It stared drizzling, and I wondered if it had started raining again, or if it was leftovers from the rain the day before.

While walking, I suddenly got scared that I was walking in circles, but then noticed a clearing ahead of me. It was a bit lighter there than in the forest, where the leaves of the trees hid the light in a kind of twilight.

When I got inside it wasn't quiet as when I had left. I noticed that I had just made it home for lunch – perfect timing.

"How was your walk, Michelle?" Judith asked me as she walked into the living room. I saw that she was laying the table.

"Helpful," I answered. And it had been – in its own way.

"That's great," she smiled. "Are you hungry?"

I actually hadn't noticed how hungry I was before she asked. My stomach started rumbling. _That's what you get from skipping breakfast._

"A little," I truthfully answered her. "But I think I'm going to change first." Judith nodded understanding.

When I reached my room, I quickly changed to jeans and a black dress. I still felt a little... sad.

Nicole came out of her room, as I came out of mine. We looked a bit at each other and I noticed that she had dark circles under her eyes.

"Nicole I'm really sorry about tonight––"

"Don't think about it," she interrupted. "That's not what has kept me up."

I looked astonished at her. Had thoughts of Jacob kept her awake since my scream woke her up?

She sighed before answering my unspoken question, "It's the thought about the fact that I haven't helped you. I promised to help you not to fall for anyone – remember?"

I bit my lower lip. Actually I wasn't sure that her help would have prevented anything. "You don't need to lay sleepless over that," I told her. "I've solved the problem." I quietly sighed.

She looked amazed at me. "You have?"

"Yup." I had to put a lot of effort into my smile, to make it seem as real as possible. I didn't want to smile, instead I wanted to run into my room and cry – cry until I couldn't cry anymore.

"That's great!" she exclaimed and hugged me. As long as Nicole wasn't concerned, I would feel much better. "By the way, I've printed the pictures I took of you yesterday," she added, smiling and showed me three pictures: one where I looked slightly surprised, another one where I was lightly blushing and a third where my hand was moving to my head.

"You know I'm not very photogenic," I embarrassingly told her.

"Says who?" she gave again. "These are for you; I've saved them on my computer anyway."

I sighed but put them on my desk, before we went down into the living room to eat lunch. I had a hard time faking a smile as we greeted Erik and Judith.

"Lunch's ready girls," Erik told us as we came in. I noticed that he shortly winked at Nicole before we all sat down to eat.

They were probably planning something for my birthday in less than one week. Sigh.

"So, what are your plans for today?" Judith curiously asked while she made herself a jam sandwich**. **I immediately grabbed the chocolate and started making myself a chocolate covered slice of rye bread.

Nicole was the first one to answer, "I think I'll begin with the Macbeth-essay, or I'll never get it done."

"I think I'm going to do that as well," I answered while I strained myself to smile.

"That's great girls. How well educated you're going to be," Erik as having troubles with the coffee pot but still had time to throw in a joke. We all laughed at it.

"Um, do any of you know an area called Goat Rocks? I think it's near some place called Mount Rainier," I asked them as nonchalant as possible. If I was going to ignore Edward anyway, I might as well get the last information's about him.

"Yes, why?" Erik asked me.

"I overheard some students talking about camping there," I lied. There was no reason to tell that Edward Cullen was hiking there at the moment – or whatever a supposed vampire did when he was free from school.

"That's a very bad place to camp," Judith said, and Erik continued, "There are too many bears. Most people go there during the hunting season." I noticed that Nicole was looking at me with an unfathomable expression.

"Oh, okay. I could have heard wrong," I shrugged, before I took a bite of my chocolate-covered bread.

Surprisingly I finished the Macbeth-essay before eight that night. Nicole was still working on hers, even though she had helped me with a few sentences and the grammar.

I decided to go early to bed since I hadn't really slept the day before, and had woken up that early. Nicole followed my example.

Even though I fell into a dreamless sleep I felt that I hadn't slept very well, the next day. I expected to find my iPod under my pillow – I had fallen asleep listening to music – but instead I found it on my desk. Had I been sleepwalking?

Carefully I walked to wards my desk and saw that my iPod wasn't the only thing that had been mysteriously moved. One of the three pictures Nicole had given me the day before was missing.

I heard my door open and quickly turned around. Nicole came into my room and asked if I was ready to go downstairs.

I ignored her question, and instead asked, "Nicole, have you been in here while I slept?" my gaze moved to my desk again.

"No, I went to bed the same time as you – and have slept since. Why?"

"You sure?" I asked just for safety reasons. "It's just because my iPod mysteriously found its way to my desk over night." I shortly looked at the pictures. "And one of your pictures is gone too." Why did it have to be the one with me blushing that was missing?

"Are you sure you put all three of them on your desk yesterday?"

"Definitely."

"Hmm..." Nicole was deep in thought as she walked out of the room. I could only sigh.

But instead of pondering things over, I went to my window and pulled the curtains aside. The sky outside was cloudless. I could have jumped up and down of excitement. Outside was cloudless! The sun was shining!

In that occasion I decided to open the window to find out how summer-like I could actually allow to dress myself. I happily stuck my arm out the window, and found that it was warmer than I had anticipated – but not quite warm enough to wear shorts. I decided to wear my blue dress made of denim. It had big buttons in front and a bow to be tied behind the middle of the back – to make the waist clearer. Underneath the dress I would be wearing a white shirt and white tights.

I wasn't going to do anything with my hair that day; it looked like it should – for once in my life.

And for the first time since I came to Forks, I decided to wear a piece of jewelry. It was a gold necklace with a golden heart and cross. The heart was from my baptism, and the cross my grandfather had given me for my confirmation. The only thing I was missing now was the anchor for faith.

I almost laughed out loud because of that. Then I quickly packet the last things into my bag, went into the bathroom to brush my teeth and went downstairs, where Nicole and both her parents were waiting.

"You seem happy today," Erik stated.

"Yep," I agreed. "The weather's great."

"Yeah, you bet it is!" Nicole answered. She was dressed in light-blue jeans with a pink top. Her hair was pulled into pigtails – something she only did when she was _really_ happy.

"Just your kind of weather, right?" Judith asked, and both Nicole and I agreed.

We quickly ate breakfast, got our bags – I grabbed my raincoat out of safety reasons – even though I was pretty sure that the cloudless sky probably wasn't going to get cloudy just like that. But I could use the coat to sit on if the benches were still wet.

Actually Nicole and I were one of the first to reach school. In our happiness about the weather we had forgotten to look at the time. We sat down on the rarely used benches by the southern side of the cafeteria. The benches were still a little moist, and I was happy that my raincoat could be used for at least something.

Nicole sat down on the opposite of me, on a piece that wasn't moist. We sat there and talked about the trip Saturday, when I suddenly remembered that I wanted to check on some homework from Trig. Nicole quickly helped me understanding what I had made wrong in some places. Thank God she was the math-genius of the two of us!

"Michelle!" I heard someone call. It sounded like Mike. I looked up from my homework and noticed that the school was getting crowded. Most people were dressed in shorts and T-shirts, but that didn't affect me. Nothing was going to ruin my good day.

I saw Mike come towards me in khaki shorts and a Rugby shirt. To think that there were sports geeks over here too. I stifled a snicker.

"Hey Mike," I called back and waved.

As he came to sit beside me I couldn't help but to notice that Nicole coughed a little before she said, "Hey Mike," in a sour tone. What was with her all of a sudden?

Mike surprised turned around. "Oh, right. Hi Nicole," then he turned to face me again. "Great day right?"

"My kind of day," I agreed.

"I'm going to class now," Nicole told us, but mostly Mike, in an insulted voice that said: "_Noo_! Don't take _any _notice of _me_!" I almost sighed.

"All right," Mike answered, clearly unaffected by her tone. Then she disappeared around the corner.

A light breeze played with my hair in that moment, and Mike leaned towards me to catch a strand between his fingers. "Your hair is almost golden. I never noticed before," he exclaimed and caught the strand.

"I know. You should be searching for the rare red glimpses, though. They're only shown in the sun. The proof that I'm actually a brunette." I didn't know how sarcastic I sounded.

"You're right. I see some red glimpses here and there." It made me feel just a bit uncomfortable as he tucked the strand behind my ear.

Suddenly there sounded a low crack to my right, and I turned to see what it was. But there was nothing but forest. Was I hearing things?

I shook my head and looked a Mike again.

"What were you doing yesterday?" he asked, his tone was just a bit too proprietary. I could have sighed.

"I mostly worked on my essay with Nicole," no need to tell him that I was already done – I didn't want to sound smug.

He hit his forehead with the heel of his hand, "Oh, yeah – it's due Thursday right?"

"I think it was Wednesday."

"Wednesday?" he frowned. "That's not good... what are you writing yours on?"

"Whether Shakespeare was a chauvinist, and his treatment of female characters is misogynistic." I might as well have spoken pig latin, because Mike looked at me like he hadn't understood a single word.

"Well, I'm probably going to work on it tonight," he sounded deflated, "I was going to ask if you wanted to go out..."

"Oh." I hadn't seen that coming. Why couldn't Mike see that I didn't like him like that?

"Um, we could go out and eat or something... and I could work on it later," he smiled a hopeful smile.

"Mike..." I started, but again I heard a high crack from the woods to my right and turned my head in surprise. What was wrong with that forest today?

I shook my head again before I turned to look at Mike once more. He still looked hopefully at me. "I don't think that would be the best idea." _Not to say that it would break the promise I made to my heart._

His face fell and he looked disappointed. "Why not?" he asked, his eyes guarded. My thoughts flickered to Edward, and I wondered if Mike's did the same.

_Because you're only my friend, I don't like you that way. And because it would break the promise I made,_ I answered in my thoughts, but didn't say it out loud.

"I think... and if you ever repeat this to anybody I'll cheerfully beat you to death," I hoped that he sensed that I meant the threat, literally, "but I think that would hurt Jessica's feelings." Not to say what she would do to _me_ if I told him yes – which I would never do. Boys were out of my life. End of discussion! And I had to make Mike look in the right direction.

Mike looked somewhat confused and bewildered, as his thoughts probably hadn't been looking in _that_ direction at all. "Jessica?"

"Mike... honestly, are you _blind_?"

"Oh," he breathed, clearly dazed over this new information. I quickly looked at my wristwatch and decided that it was time for my escape.

"I have to go now – I can't be late for class again." I collected my books, put them into my bag and walked towards English, with a silent Mike walking beside me. I hoped that this new information would guide him in the right direction – towards Jessica.

When I saw her in Trig she was almost bursting with excitement. She, Angela and Lauren were going to Port Angeles to buy clothes for the party, and she wanted me to come too, even though I didn't need anything.

I quickly asked if Nicole could come too, and Jessica said with an obvious voice that she absolutely had to come. So I said yes, but I wasn't too happy with the thought of being with Lauren. The girl had something against me, I just didn't know what.

When Jessica followed me to German, she talked of nothing but the party, which was really tiring to hear, since she – for the fifteenth time – was explaining how she had imagined her dress. Luckily I could escape into the German classroom right after.

German ended five minutes too late, so I rushed to the cafeteria. My body was in an excited state – it was almost going rigid. I was going to compare the Cullens with my new theory. And maybe make Edward shy away because I was wearing a cross.

After that I would begin to ignore him. I had to be strong enough. It would better for me. Much much better.

When I finally reached the cafeteria, it was almost filled. I quickly bought a bowl of salad and suddenly got more excited – would Edward be sitting in there waiting for me?

As a reflex, I threw a glance at the Cullen table but it was empty. I looked frantically around in the cafeteria – hoping to find him sitting alone and waiting for me.

But he was nowhere to be seen. It was like the Cullens had never existed.

Since I arrived late, all the others already sat at the table. I briefly noticed that Jessica looked all blissful, probably because she sat next to Mike. I sat next to Angela and Nicole – who raised her eyebrow as she looked from me to Mike, and back again.

My appetite had vanished, so I didn't really touch my salad. I had a short conversation with Angela, she briefly asked me about the Macbeth essay and I answered her as naturally as I could. After a while she too invited me to Port Angeles, and even included Nicole in the invitation. We both accepted. Lauren-problem-child seemed very unimportant in that moment. I mostly wanted to get my mind distracted.

After lunch I felt how I clung on to the last bit of hope, but was again disappointed as I entered Biology and saw his empty seat. My mood turned to the worse. But maybe it was for the best. Then it would be easier to ignore him when he came back.

The rest of the day went slowly – in Gym we listened to a lecture about the rules of Badminton – the only sport I couldn't practice. I just couldn't hit the shuttlecock when I was serving. Sigh.

Luckily the teacher didn't finish so we were going to hear the rest Tuesday, before we had to play Wednesday.

When school was finally over, I was happy that I could go home and sulk in my room. But Nicole and I had barely entered the house, before the phone rang. Mike had just invited Jessica out for dinner, so the Port Angeles trip was rescheduled to the next day.

_Yippee, _I could have rolled my eyes.

Now there wasn't anything to do that could distract my thoughts, and when Nicole was invited over by one from her Algebra-team because they were doing a project together, I suddenly found myself alone – for the first time since I came to Forks.

I decided that it would probably be a good idea to soak up as much vitamin D as I possibly could, so I grabbed my iPod, a very worn out copy of "_The Diary of Anne Frank_" and went out in the backyard.

The grass was still wet, so I sat in one of the few chairs that weren't wet anymore. With a little violence, I pulled the chair out in the sun and one of the small tables too, which also stood outside. Then I sat down, leaned the chair back and opened the book where I had last stopped reading: _Friday the 28th April 1944._

But not long after I had begun reading, I remembered that this was the chapter where Anne and Peter kissed. Angrily I shut the book. Why could the world – and books for that matter – not do as I wanted them to? This wasn't helping my feelings at all!

I groaned and put the book on the little table. Then I took my iPod and hit 'shuffle'. Finally I could relax and only think about how the sun gently touched my skin...

But not long after, I was disturbed again. A song that reminded me too much of Edward, – "Claire de Lune" – was playing, and I hit the off-button a little harder than intended. Why was everything in the world against me that day? Here I was, trying to forget about him and then everything I did reminded me of him!

Ugh!

I leaned the chair back even more and decided to only focus on my story about the half-vampire girl. Not long after I couldn't think anymore, but instead felt how the sun warmed my face, gently touched my legs, my arms, my fingers...

The next thing I heard was a car in the driveway. I woke with a start and looked around myself in astonishment. The sun was long gone behind the clouds, and it had turned cold. Nevertheless, it felt like I wasn't alone. I shortly looked at the darkest spot of the woods in front of me, but shook my head.

_It's just something you're imagining. Who would shadow you?_ I asked myself. No, I was probably just imagining things.

I hurried into the house with my things, and saw Nicole come in through the front door.

"What have you been doing?" she asked me, probably because of my rolled-up sleeves.

"I tried to soak in a little vitamin D to make my dad happy, but I fell asleep." The last I couldn't help but to be embarrassed about. Never in my life had I ever fallen asleep in the sun. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that the sun wasn't shining as strongly over here.

"Oh, okay."

"I'm going upstairs. Trying to make some homework and such," I quickly said and Nicole just nodded at me. Then I went up the stairs and into my room.

The sun was shining again the next day.

I purposely planned to reach Biology in the last minute, but again _he_ wasn't there. I felt how I turned slightly depressed but I knew that this was only the tip of the iceberg. Yet I hoped that it would soon be over – that the iceberg would melt and disappear. That I could go back to normal.

In Gym Nicole told me – to my great joy – that Lauren wasn't coming with us to Port Angeles after all. And after school Jessica followed Nicole and me to Nicole's, where we changed our school bags to purses.

Nicole's parents were working late that night, so we would have the house to ourselves when we came home again. How fortunate.

Before we walked out the door and into Jessica's Mercury, I looked at myself one last time in the mirror.

_Michelle, keep your promise. Forget Edward Cullen. He's not worth it._

I couldn't have been more wrong...


	14. Chapter 13: Problems in Port Angeles

**13. Problems in Port Angeles**

Jessica drove faster than Nicole had the first time I came from Port Angeles to Forks. We reached the city by four. I hadn't really had a real girls' night for ages – and I knew the reason why. I wasn't the big pajamas party-type. I could actually be a very boyish girl – but the rush of estrogen was invigorating.

We listened to whiny rock songs – not my kind of music but at least it was bearable listening to – while she blabbered about the boys we hang out with.

Jessica's dinner with Mike had been a success and she hoped that they had reached the first-kiss stage by Saturday.

I internally sighed. No girl back in Denmark would have planned things like that – or at least talked like that about things. Ho could Jessica look at it that way? You didn't just expect to kiss people, like planning things after a calendar. At least not in my world. No, you waited for the right moment when you could feel the magic grow – when it was _now. _When you felt the electricity, the power, the magic...

I shook the thoughts out of my head. Kisses were definitely not the right thing to think about right now.

Nicole and Angela talked about how excited they were for the party, but they weren't really interested in their partners. Angela had invited Eric and Nicole invited Lee. Jessica tried to make both of them admit who was really their type and I could tell that they both just wanted to escape the car – or wish they could disappear. If Jess knew who Nicole actually liked she would without any doubt ask a million questions, so I interrupted with a question about dresses. Both Nicole and Angela shot me a grateful glance.

When we arrived in Port Angeles I noticed what the city actually looked like – I hadn't really been awake enough to notice the last time. It was a little tourist town, much cleaner and more quaint than Forks. But Jessica, Angela and Nicole knew the city in and out, so they didn't want to waste time at the picturesque boardwalk by the bay.

Jessica quickly drove to the one big department store in town, which was a couple of streets away from the water and visitor-friendly side of town. Towns always had two sides; the visitor-friendly, and the more _sinister_ part. The part where all the darker types hang out and committed crimes. Copenhagen definitely had that side too. I should know since I lived in one of the nicer neighborhoods just beside a 'darker' one. Creepy, when you thought about it.

Many people, especially families with children, would give half their arm to live where I did. And still a neighborhood like that was just beside it.

I pushed the thoughts aside again, trying to concentrate on the conversation between the others. Ah, they were discussing the theme of the dance: semiformal. And they had no idea about what it was.

I tried to help by interrupting, "Um, it could have something to do with cocktail-dresses. I bet it isn't going to be as fine as prom."

Angela quickly turned her head in my direction and looked lost in thoughts for a moment. "I think Michelle's right," she then said. "It sounds plausible."

Jessica looked like she accepted the theory and led us into the store. She started asking how I had figured that out, and I started to explain about the dances in Denmark – or at least those at my school. "We even have some even wilder themes. There was one with a candy dress code. There was even a girl dressed in a dress made of Mentos," I giggled at the image that followed in my head. That costume had won the competition for most original costume.

"What were you dressed as?" she asked me while leading us down to the juniors' section.

"A lollipop made of peppermint."

"Oh," she said. "Who asked you to that dance?"

That question surprised me. Boys didn't really invite to parties back in Denmark. You weren't allowed to drive a car before you turned 18. "Um, that's not how it works in Denmark," I explained. "Nobody invites each other."

"Really?" Jess seemed surprised.

Now Nicole interrupted, and I was glad she did. It would be easier for her to compare the parties in Denmark with the ones over here. "Jess, they can't drive 'till they're 18 over there, so it's no use if the boys ask the girl to the party, or vice versa. Sure they can go together but that isn't something they ask about. Not even to their prom, which isn't held at the end of the year but in January or February. And it's called gala."

Jessica and Angela eyed each other. "So you've never been out with a guy before?" Jess asked in amazement. Both she and Angela looked stunned. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Nicole was looking away, smiling. She knew more about my past that the two others.

I mentally sighed before I answered, "Not to parties. But I've been on a café with a boy once before," my eyes moved to the floor as I spoke, and I blushed out of bashfulness. This was very private to me, and I hated telling others about my heart and soul.

"And _who_ was _that_?" Jessica asked with an interested voice. We had reached the dress-up clothes by now, but had come to a halt.

"My ex-boyfriend..." I mumbled with an almost indistinct voice. But I was sure that Jess still heard it.

"What?" she sounded both surprised and shocked. "Wow! You _have_ actually had a boyfriend."

I looked up again and noticed that both Angela and Nicole looked apologetic at me. Sigh, Jessica would always be a gossip-lover.

"That was a long time ago, though. It's no big deal," I answered her and sighed. The whole school would now about this tomorrow. Trust Jessica to carry on gossip-like-things in a blur. Things like my past.

"Right," she swung her curls behind her back with her right arm. "Why don't you try again though? You could easily get another boyfriend," her eyes tightened a little as she said that. Sigh, she was probably still convinced that I would say yes to Mike if he ever asked me to go with him to a dance.

_Jess, Mike is yours! _I wanted to scream at her, but didn't. She needed to find that out on her own.

I took a deep breath before answering her question, "I haven't really been in the mood of going out after my last boyfriend. Actually it was never like that with him. We just went to a café after school. And, well, since then I haven't really wanted to go out," I quickly sighed. "And no one ever asked me since."

Jessica looked skeptical, "People ask you here," she reminded me, "and you say no." We had finally begun walking again.

"Except for Tyler," Angela quietly amended.

"Tyl– what?" I gasped. "What did you say?"

"Tyler's telling everyone that he's taking you to prom," Jessica informed me with suspicious eyes.

"He saying _what_?" I sounded like I was choking.

"I told you it wasn't true," Angela silently murmured to Jessica. Nicole was just shaking her head.

Why had none of them told me this?

While they scanned the racks to find dresses I remained quiet. But the shock was quickly replaced by irritation.

"That's why Lauren doesn't like you," Jessica giggled while holding a black dress in front of her to see how it looked.

I ground my teeth. Okay, that was it! Tyler was going to pay for this – surviving it with or without scratches. "What if I ran him over with Nicole's car, do you think he's going to give up making amends and call it even?"

"Maybe," Jess snickered. "_If _that's why he's doing it."

I could have screamed. More puppies. Ah! I wanted to groan. Or hit something – I didn't know. I just wanted Tyler, Mike and Eric to disappear from my sight, and that forever!

While the others were going through the small selection of dresses, I concentrated on breathing heavily in and out, and my irritation fell. Tomorrow I would confront Tyler about this and tell him not to expect me to go to prom with him. I wanted him to know that I was pissed – I wanted him to _feel _it.

Nicole came over to me with a light sky-blue dress in her hands. "What do you think?" she asked me. The dress was long, it reached at least to her feet, and it had thick straps.

"Try it on," I encouraged her and she smiled. Then she sighed.

"I'm really sorry about Jess and Lauren," she said. "_Especially _Lauren. If I had known why she didn't like you, I would have told you right away."

I kindly smiled at her. "You don't need to apologize. This is all Tyler's fault and I'll make him change his mind tomorrow."

She just shook her head. "Tyler's very stubborn Michelle. It's not easy to get him to change his mind." she shortly eyed the dress in her hands and sighed again. "But I'll be standing on your side anyway. You're my best friend," she smiled.

"Thanks Nicole," I hugged her. "Now get into that changing room. We want you to look stunning this Saturday!" we both laughed and she went in to change.

In the end, Jessica was torn between two dresses – one a long, strapless, basic black number, the other a knee-length electric blue with spaghetti straps. I encouraged her to take the blue; why not attract attention? And make the eyes of the guys pop out when they saw her, I had added to make her happy. She looked pleased by that thought and tried on the dress.

Angela chose a pale pink dress that draped perfectly around her tall frame and brought out honey tints in her hair.

I complimented them all generously and helped by returning the rejects to their racks. The whole process took shorter time than I had expected – even though it had been quite some time for me. I myself, only used about twenty minutes in a store, but that was because I knew what I needed, or because I just stumbled across something I knew I needed. Still, I liked to shop – it made you smile again because you had something new to show the world. And it wasn't tiring if it didn't take up too much time.

We then walked over to shoes and accessories. While they tried things on, I merely watched and critiqued. Even though the irritation towards Tyler had calmed down, my depression had returned. If I didn't get a hold of myself I would never be able to forget Edward Cullen.

Sigh.

But there was nothing else to do that to try and make the pain go away. And maybe talking would help.

"Angela?" I began, hesitant, while she tried on a pair of pink strappy heels. She was overjoyed to have a date tall enough for her to wear high heels at all. Jessica and Nicole had drifted to the jewelry counter, so we were alone.

"Yes?" she held her leg out, twisting her ankle to get a better look at the shoe.

I chickened out. "I like those. They really fit your feet."

"I think I'll take them – even though they'll never fit anything but that one dress," she mused.

"Oh, come on – they're on sale. I really think you should take them," I encouraged. She smiled and put the lid back on a box with a pair of more practical-looking off-white shoes.

I tried again. "Um, Angela..." she looked up curiously. "Is it normal for... the Cullens," –– I kept my eyes on her shoes –– "to be out of school a lot?" I almost made a face as I remembered that I had already asked Nicole the same question some time ago. But I stopped myself from doing that in the last second.

"Yes, whenever the weather is good they all go out hiking – even the doctor. They're all real outdoorsy," she quietly told me and too looked at her shoes. She didn't ask one single question of the hundreds Jessica would have asked. I could easily picture it, and Nicole would probably try to stop it. I was very happy that they both were in the jewelry section right now. But Angela didn't ask about anything, I was beginning to really like her.

"Oh, okay." I let the subject drop when I saw Nicole and Jessica return to show us the jewelry they had found.

Nicole had found a silver necklace with a sapphire-blue dolphin as pendant. I encouraged her to buy it – it fit perfectly to both her dress and her personality.

Jessica had found some rhinestone jewelry that matched her silver shoes perfectly.

We had planned to eat dinner at a little Italian restaurant on the boardwalk, but the dress shopping had gone faster than anticipated. Jess, Angela and Nicole were going to take their clothes back to the car and then walk down to the bay. I told them that I would meet them by the restaurant in an hour – I really needed some alone-time – so I lied and told them I wanted to find a bookstore. They all wanted to come with me, but I encouraged them to go have fun.

Nicole even suggested that we split up into groups, but again I declined. I could get pretty anti-social when I was trying to gather my thoughts, and I wanted to spare them of that experience. They walked off to car chattering happily, and I headed in the direction Jess had pointed out for me.

I had no trouble finding the bookstore, but it wasn't really what I had expected. The windows were full of crystals, dream-catchers and books about spiritual healing. Just something for my father.

I stood a while, looking at the dream-catchers. Actually I could pretty much use one, since I hadn't thought of bringing the one I had in Denmark. And maybe it would help me with removing the nightmares I was beginning to have at night – I knew they helped against it, I had tried it myself. And maybe I should buy rosy quartz too. They helped you sleep better too.

I decided to buy those things, and leave the books for another time. Then I would buy one for my dad, as a gift for when I came home again. But it had to wait for now – I really needed to lead my thoughts in the right direction.

I went out of the store and looked at my wrist-watch. Sigh, there was still too much time until we were going to meet at the restaurant. So instead of waiting for the others by the restaurant, I decided to take a little walk through the meandering streets.

They were all filled up with end-of-the-workday traffic and I consciously noticed the names of the streets I passed, so that I could walk back the way I came in time.

I was fighting with myself on the inside as I walked, the desperation wouldn't go away. I did my best to not think of _him _and what both Angela and Nicole had told me. I really tried to forget him, to keep the thoughts of him out of my brain. I felt the disappointment over having to cancel our plans for Saturday, my birthday, but I had to do it. I had to be strong enough.

When I looked up at the streets again, I noticed a silver Volvo which was parked on the street, and everything came crashing down on me.

_Stupid, unreliable, cryptic vampire! _I thought to myself.

I stomped along in a southerly direction, and noticed a couple of glass-fronted shops that looked like something from the 'visitor-friendly' part of town. Maybe I was walking in the right direction, and didn't need to walk all the way back again. I calmly walked in that direction but when I reached my destination, it was just a repair shop and a vacant space.

There was still plenty of time until I was meeting the others, and I quickly ran my fingers through my loose hair. Then I shortly looked at myself in the window of the shop. The red tank top with a square-neck I was wearing didn't really keep me warm, and I was glad that I had chosen a thin, black jacket that matched my black jeans. Still, I was beginning to get cold, so I buried my hands in the pockets of my jacket. Then I decided to cross the next street to see if I was walking in the right direction.

But I was walking in the wrong direction, since most of the buildings here were mostly warehouses. I decided to turn east by the next corner and then turn once more after another couple of streets. Then I could try my luck in another street, to find my way back to the boardwalk.

Four men turned around the corner I was heading for. They were definitely not heading home from the office, they were dressed too casually and they were too grimy to be tourists.

As they approached me I noticed that they weren't much older than me – maybe even in the beginning of their twenties. They were joking loudly among themselves, laughing raucously and punching each other's arms. Those were exactly the types I tried to avoid as much as possible.

I scooted as far to the inside of the sidewalk as I could to give them room, while I avoided looking at them. Then I continued walking towards the corner.

"Hey!" one of the called as they passed. He had to be talking to me, since there was no one else in sight. I automatically looked up, and saw that two of them had stopped and the two others had slowed down. The closest, a heavyset, dark-haired man in his early twenties, seemed to be the one to have spoken. He was wearing a flannel shirt open over a dirty t-shirt, cut-off jeans, and sandals. He took a little step toward me.

I immediately looked away without answering, and fought myself to not walk faster – to show that I was scared. Which I actually wasn't, I just wanted to get out of this uncomfortable situation.

Men like them were only looking for one thing, and because of that I had the biggest urge to hit them – or have the ability to cause pain to them without moving a finger.

I heard them laughing at full volume behind me, as I passed them.

"Hey, wait!" one of them called after me again but right then I rounded the corner with a sigh of relief. I could still hear the chortling behind me.

I found myself on a sidewalk leading past the backs of more somber-colored warehouses, each with large bay doors for unloading trucks.

The south side of the street had no sidewalk, only a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire protecting some kind of engine parts storage yard. This was the part of Port Angeles that I, as a guest, wasn't meant to see. The _sinister _part of town.

As I looked at the sky, I noticed that it was getting dark, the clouds were finally returning, while they created an early sunset. The eastern sky was clear, but graying, and covered up with streaks of pink and orange.

If I hadn't been walking around in such a creepy place, I actually would have admired the sight. The way the pink and the orange created a new dimension of colors was my favorite part of the day. The time when I got to see my favorite colors.

It started turning really cold, and I had left my winter-jacket in Jessica's car. So I squeezed the thin jacket tight onto my body and hoped that it would help me feel warmer. A single van passed me, and then the street was empty.

The sky turned darker and darker and darker, and when I turned around to walk back the way I came, I got myself a huge shock. Two men walked calmly just twenty feet behind me.

They were from the same group I had passed at the corner, even though none of them were the dark one who'd spoken to me. I immediately looked forward and quickened my pace. Goosebumps started appearing on my arms, but they had nothing to do with the weather. I grabbed my purse, which was hanging on my left shoulder, and made myself ready to drop it if I had to. It was my favorite purse so I didn't really want to drop it. But if I had to, I was ready to make a sacrifice to get out of this alive.

I listened intently to their quiet steps, which were much too quiet compared to the boisterous noise they had made earlier. And it didn't sound like they were speeding up or getting any closer to me.

Several times I had to remind myself to breathe, or else I would have fainted. My hands were curled into fists in my pockets, in case any of them would come to close to me. I knew that they were following me, since wherever I was going, they followed. I made sure to walk as quickly as I could, without running, and felt how my heart beat faster and faster – the adrenaline was flowing through my veins and that made me extremely aware of my surroundings.

I focused on a street to my right only a few yards away. My followers kept the same distance as before. A blue car turned into the street from the south and drove quickly past me. For one moment I thought of jumping out in front of it, but didn't. It would be all too smart to get squished by another car.

And then it was too late.

I reached the corner, but a swift glance revealed that it was just a blind drive to the back of another building. I had already turned halfway around, but then hurried across the narrow drive and back to the sidewalk. My heart started beating faster and faster, and I wondered how it was possible that it hadn't jumped out of my chest yet.

I wasn't scared for what would happen to me. I was afraid of what the situation might do to my parents, my friends, my acquaintances...

That was why my heart was frantically beating in an adrenaline rushing melody, without any rhythm.

I once again listened to the steps behind me, and they sounded further away. Something inside of me screamed that now was the time to run, but I didn't do it – these men would easily catch up with me if I did.

I knew that I had to walk with firm steps and seem confident; my mother had told me that. And that I should avoid looking back but pretend like I hadn't noticed my followers. And I was following her advice to the letter.

I looked straight ahead and noticed that the street ended by the next corner, where there was a stop sign. Gratefully, I exhaled and heard how the footfalls of the men sounded further and further back. I was saved.

I saw two cars going north to pass the intersection I was heading for, and I felt how my heart began to slow down. There would be more people when I got away from this deserted street. I knew that it was over now, and gratefully skipped around the corner.

And skipped to a stop.

There were walls along both sides of the street, without any doors or windows. In the distance, two intersections away, I saw streetlamps, cars and more pedestrians, but they were all too far away. Because lounging against the western building, midway down the street, were the other two men from the group, both watching with excited smiles as I froze dead on the sidewalk. I suddenly realized that I was never being followed.

I was being herded.


	15. Author's Note

*Comes out of rabbit-hole*

Um... well... hello?

Please don't throw anything at me but let me explain why I haven't been updating this story in such a long time.

I've been very busy with my life and I've had a few personal problems that I'd rather not discuss with people I don't really know. I've had this story on my mind for a couple of times now, and I simply seem to hit a solid brick wall every time I try to write anything new for it, so I'm putting it on hiatus for a while. (I'm sorry I haven't told you guys sooner, but I've simply had a very complicated time these last moths - and really, I'd rather not talk about it again. I just want to forget it ever happened)

So until I can figure out how to conquer this 'writers-block' thing, I'll be very happy if you'd read the new story I'm about to publish, called "Forces of Destiny". It's going to be a Harry Potter/Merlin crossover (yes, as in the BBC series version of Merlin) and I am very into that story right now, so I shouldn't be able to hit any writer-block right away ;P (Hopefully I can finally stick to the story and actually get it done xD)

I hope you'll check it out and forgive me for my not peeping in to tell you about this sooner. I AM TRULY SORRY! It won't happen again.

Your foolish, little aspiring author ;P


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